Food from the sea: fish and shellfish of New England.

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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT ·01", THE INTERIOR
Harold L. Ickes, Secretary _.
FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE . .
Ira N. Gabrielson, Director
Conservation Bulletin 33
FOOD FROM THE SEA
Fish and Shellfish ofNew England _
BY
RACHEL L. CARSON ,
Aquatic a.iologist, Division of Fishery Biology
Fish and Wildlife Service
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1943
For sale by 'the Superintendent of Documents,' U. S. Government Printing Office
, Washington, D. C. ~ Price 15cents
I,
. _t \
Millions of Americans are developing new wartime food habits,
trying foods they once neglected, turning to alternates for long
familiar products. For everyone of the ten fish or shellfish that
make up more than four-fifths of New England's catch there are
seven species little known or utilized, many of which could pro-vide
tasty and nutritious foods. Turning to these under-utilized
species will conserve food resources by lifting the burden of over-exploitation
from such fishes as cod and haddock and will augment
dwindling supplies of protein foods. Exploring the seafood markets
for unfamiliar species rewards the housewife and her family with
delightful taste surprises, for scarcely any other class of food offers
so great a variety, so rich an opportunity for mealtime adventures.
Before we can try new foods, we must know what they are-something
of their nutritive value, where they come from, how
. market supplies vary with the season. Our enjoyment of these
foods is heightened if we also know something of the creatures from
which they are derived, how and where they live, how they are
caught, theirhabits and migrations. This publication provides
such an introduction to the more important fish and shellfish of
New England .
CONTENTS
FISH AND SHELLFISH OF NEW ENGLAND'
IntroductioJ - ~ pag~
New England's fish supply 2
Leading species_________________________ 2
, Fish as food____________________________ 4
When to buy___________________________ 5
, Seasonal supplies of fresh fish___________ 6
Sources of supply __c ~------~------------- 8
Fishermen and fisbing boats__________________ 10
How the fisheries began________________ 10
New England's place among United '
ThSetafteleset fisheries_________________"____________ 1113
Markets ._________ 14
Biofigsrha_p_h_ie_s, o_f__N_e_w____E_nglan_d___f_i_sh___a_n_d_ sh_e_ll_-_ 14
Alewlves "_ __ __ 15.
Sea herring_____________________________ 18
Mackerel., ___ __ _ __ 21
Bwordnsh, _______ _________ ___ 25
Cod ' .. "_______________ 27
Haddock ,,_ ,31
, Pollock " . . 34
Biographies of New England fish and shell- Page
fish-CHoankteisn_u_e_d_. ___ _'____ _ _ _ 37
Cusk __"'____ _________ ___ _ 39
Whiting____ _______ _ __ 41
E~l~ou~n~deilrss.h, -_.:_~_=~=_=_=_=_._: _====== ====== =_====== =_ :4~8
Halibut " c .; "____ _ 52
Wolffish__ ______ _ _ ____ _ 54
Butterfish c___ __ _ _ __ _ 54
Tuna '_" : ___ __ ___ 55
Summer fiounder .-- 56
Anglerfish : _______ 57
Skates c " _ _ __ _ _ 57
The ovster,«; ~ ._ 59
The Iobster.e; ._________ 63
: ~~~~~~;~::======:::=====::::===:::==~=g= ...,••Shrimp ~__" ~__ ____ 71
••. Sell mussels "_____________________ n
Bibliography , ----- 72
Conservation of the rich natural resources of the sea is a job for"
the consuming public as well as' for State and Federal governments.
Each of the millions of people who buy and eat fish can play an active
part in conservation by, utilizing a greater variety of seafoods. In
New England, the specificjob is to spread consumption more uniformly
over the nearly 80 species of fish and shellfish that are brought, into
local ports eachyear. Production records 'of the fishing industry show
a serious lack of balance-c-overexploitation of a few species on one
hand, wasteful underexploitation of many species on the other. Al-though
600,000,000pounds of seafoodare caught byNew England fish-ermen
each year, 85percent of this poundage consists of only 10species,
while the remaining 70 species are landed in quantities so limited that, '
they make up only 15'percent of the total catch.
There are two reasons for this: state of affairs. First, of course, is
the obvious fact that some species are more abundant or more easily
1
CO~SERVATION BULLETIN 33
caught than others, Second, and more important because remediable,
is the lack of demand for the neglected seventy, caused by the fact that
the public is unfamiliar with them and hesitates to try new species it
knows nothing about. The 10 seafoods the New Englander eats so ex-:
tensively are, for the most part, the best-known species-fishes by tra-dition
as characteristic of New England as baked beans or boiled
dinners. Haddock and cod, mackerel and herring, lobsters and clams- ,
these are the natural choices of the New Englander when he goes to his
seafood market to buy fish for dinner. The only newcomers that have,
in recent years, given strong competition to these aristocrats of the fish
world are rosefish (also called "redfish"), and flounders. Still little
utilized are fishes like cusk, some of the flounders, skates, hakes, anglers,
and dozens of others. From the standpoint of human welfare, thou-sands
upon thousands of pounds of these less known fishes go to waste
in the sea each year; ,
If New England fisheries are to yield their full' quota of food, now
and in future years, the burden of overexploitation must be lifted from
the few species that now make up more than four-fifths of the catch;
the slack of wasted pounds must be taken up from the fishes that now
are underutilized. To this end, the major purpose of this publication
is to acquaint the consumer with the fishes available in good quantity
in New England markets, and to introduce those fishes as individual
creatures-' individual in flavor, food values, and gustatory appeal, in
their habits, migrations, and relations to a varied sea environment,
each with its own seasons of abundance and scarcity which, in turn,
affect its availability and market quality.
NEW ENGLAND'S FISH SUPPLY
Leading Species
,At the present time, the largest item in New England's catch is
haddock, with landings in 1940 amounting to 141,000,000 pounds
valued at $4,600,000 (returns to fishermen). ' In the same year rose-fish
ranked second, producing 85,000,000 pounds worth one and a
quarter millions. Third in poundage but second in value was cod,
with a yield of 82,000,000 pounds worth two and a half millions.' '
Flounders, herring, whiting, pollock, and mackerel were the only
other speciestaken in quantities exceeding 35,000,000 pounds. Six-teen
others were caught in quantities exceeding a million pounds, and
catches of less than a million pounds each were made of about 50
minor species.
1Members of the cod family (haddock, cusk, hake, whiting, and pollock, as well as the
cod itself) ordinarily make up three-fifths of the total New England catch.
FOOD FROM THE .SEA 3
12.617
Figure 1.-Mass production is the keynote of New England's high seas fisheries.
·.!
4 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
TABLE I.-Fish and shellfish lasided in New England in 1940 in quantities exceeding
100,000 pounds ' • /:>1-
Fish
3,193,400
124,300
2,475,700
82,288,900
7,966,500
Pounds Value to Fish Pounds Value to
fishermen fishermen
---- ----- ----
$19,141 Skates ______________________ 176,300 $2,331
5,494 Smelt __________________. __ 562,300 45,617
94,694 squeteatues or "sea trout" _ 153,700 11,158
2,502,745 Striped ass________________ 147,400 18,881
204,445 TSawuotordgfis_h_______________________.______________ 1,337,300 230,088 156,800 6,860
24,480 Tuna ______________'2________ 1,120,900 39,229
1,143 WWohliftifnisgh __________________________________.__.__4_0,868,900 335,855 1,233,000 33,721
279,489
218,993 SHELLFISH
'728,230 Crabs ______________________2,419,400 54,276
468,234 Lobsters ____________________11,165,300 2,000,566
214,402 Clams:
18,598 Hard _____________________4,453,100 583,721
19,426 Razor. ___________________ 342,400 11,085
4,600,513 Soft ______________________15,388,000 1,160,114
295,551 Oysters _____________________5,990,200 1,051,224
147,386 Scallops:
401'.,120 Bay ______-___.____________ 1,131,400 382,376
7,305 Sea________ r; ~.___________5,390,900 799,850
767,334 Conchs _____________________ 424,500 8,116
691,055 Sea urchins _________________ 102,500 785
'1,271,303 Seaweeds:
264,156. 'mh~~~~:~::~::::::::::::: 596,200 59,182
144,950 137,000 685
1,582 Sandvworms and blood-
22,214 worms ____________________ 55\1,000 156,794
4,375
Alewives -__
Bopito- - _-_- -- - - --
Bgtterfish _ cod _
Cusk _
Eels:
Commop_________________ 273,900 F~~~~jifi~~~;;;~;~;;:;~;;;;;;~~. Yellowtail and dab . 33,590,200
.Blackbaok 10,692,900
Eluke.; _ 3,254,400
Other ___________ ____ 550,800
Grayfish __"~ "___ 575,500
Haddock 141,193,700'
e - 14,321,500
ut, . ;__ 1,129,000
ng, sea ~ ~_ 44,051,700
L .' e_____________________ 162,400
Mac e1.._________________ 35,969,600
Pollock __,, 37,333,500
Rosefish - 85,141,700
Scup or.porgy 10,842,700
Beabass ., "__________ 3,302,400
Se'itrobin ~_~ ~---- 142,200
Sp!td-- - -_"_-- 573,300
Sharks .----------. 226,400
Fish as Food
t" .,.,
LN ewEngland's marine bill offa:re includes so many items that it
i'fb'; 4he possible to make a diffe~ent selection from it everyday for
Ida half months. Seafoods brought into New England ports
from, staples like cod and haddock to delicacies like swordfish,
_,.and scallops. They include fat fish and lean fish, fish of . , ., ( .~.. .flavor and fish of rich flavor, fish for baking, broiling, or pan-
, for delicious and satisfying main dishes or for salads, appe-ar
chowders."
rcely any other class of food offers "so great a variety-so rich
,ort~.pityfor gustatory adv~nture .. 'The housewife who experi-
}yh,:newfish species and new methods of preparation banishes
,iti¢';fu:ppotony and provides delightful taste surprises for her
,,'~ti:For':,~xample, instead of hadclOck'fm~t~ for di.nner tonight,
'''ip.ilt 'new interest in your menu byser:vingthe little known
~.' o1ii$iae:rredone of the choicest New~nglri3:idtable fish? For
a-salad surprise try New England shrimp or-flaked mackerel in gela-tine.
Instead of expensive fresh salmon, substitute fillets of wolffish,
an excellent table fish that has only begun to achievedeserved import-ance.
Any new species that is available is worth-trying, if a tested
recipe for its preparation is at hand.
2 The Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as many commercial fishery organizations and
other private agencies, issues cookbooks in which hundreds of recipes for the preparatjon
of tempting seafood dishes are provided,
:.'
FOOD FROM THE SEA "
./
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\."'Besides th~Ir taste' appeal, fish lla';e solid claims t~incliision"in .'th~
:'family: diet on the basis' of actual food values. .'Outstanding among."
the 'facts 'worthy of .'attention is "thehigh "qUalityoffish" protein.ithe
·substance that replacesworn-out body tissues and promotes growth.
Fish,'oh the average, are equal to beef round in the nutritive value of
"their protein, and many kinds of fish and sh~llfish rankhigher than
beef.' "Amorigthese producers of superior quality proteinate oysters,
·pilchard; andsilver salmon from thePaeific coast; red snapper and
shrimp from thesouth, Boston mackerel, shadecod, and croakers. ,In>"
general terms, an averageserving of fish or- shellfish may becounted
upon to supply from a quarter to a half of the necessary daily allow-
· anc~ of protein. ;- -. .
Another reason for the high rating given fish by. nutritioniets is
their mineral. content. I'ron, copper, magnesium, iodine; calcium, and'
phosphorus, all ,essential to human w~ll being, are a few of themin-erals
that have been accumulatingin the sea for thousands of years,
·washed down from the land by rivers. Through 'complex food chains
·these minerals enter into the bodies of small sea animals which, in turn,
are eaten hy fish. To cite thr~e outstandingexamples of why these v.
faCts are .important.fromthe nutritionalstandpoip.t : Iodine, which
.keeps:the:.thyroid:glandcfunctioni~g':properlY'ris·found:in:·marine·food
.animals in quantitie~ 50 t9 200,.t~rP.esashlgh.as in any other foods.
Calcium-and-phosphorus (without whichproper deyelopmentof bones:
'and,teeth is impossible) occurinflsh :filletsiriabotitthe same:'qu~ritities
as in beef romid.Oysters,shtimp, andcrab.meat, comparedwith
milk.vprovidchalf as much calcium, five times as much magnesium,
~ arid slightly more phosphorus.". I~on and copper, which 'buildup the
· hemoglobin content of' the blood and preventorremedyriutritional·····
'anemia, are easily obtained by eating most fish. Oysters' and shrimp
are the .best known sources of these two minerals.' r' .
;. A.~for vitamins; fish-liver oils have long been recognized asfirst- "
..class .sources ofVit~mins.Aand D~ Less widely understood is the
.fact that the flesh offish also is a source of several vitamins .. On the
average, daily vitamin requirements"couldbe'obta:ined'frorh 'ordiIiaiy:;
portions of fish to the following extent : Vitamin A, 10 percent ; yita-".
minD, more than adequate amounts; thiamin (Vita:rninB1) 15 ·per..;
~cent; riboflavin (Vitamin B:Jand nicotinic acid (another element of
· the ,Vitamin B complex), 70 percent.
:~'.
. - .
.,.' .When To Buy
:,Every 'Il1onthof the year inthe '~~esh-fishmarkets, .certain fish ate
,~etter buys than others;" Although the'retail prices of most fish vary:
surprisingly "little .from season to season,' it . pays the housewife in
better quality to buya particular species offish when the supply)s':"
521544°--43--;-2 ~ ,
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6' ' , ' CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
greatest:'" When whiting or pollock, for example, are most abundant
in local waters, boats are making their 'catches in minimum time and
the fish are arriving in the markets in the best possible condition.
, These comments, of course, .do not apply to frozen fish, which, be-'
•cause of the excellence of modern refrigeration, are usually equal to
fresh in taste, appearance, and food value., Just as quick freezing,
makes a great variety 'of fruits and vegetables available in attractive
packages every month of the year, it also makes possible the serving
"of many kinds, of fish out of season..
Seasonal Supplies of Fresh Fish
JANUARY
This is "one of the best months to try gray" sole and yellowtails-white-
meated flounders that are now being brought in abundantly by ( ice-encrusted trawlers from the fishing, banks. Another fish to get
acquainted with in J a-p,uaryis the eusk, whose delicate flavor is 'Yell
'known to connoisseurs of good food, and deserves to be.better known
to all American housewives. Theremay be a last. chance to buyfresh
mackerel this month, for a few of theseflsh.sometimes .e lingei· 'about
southernN ew England after the !ir~t of the' year; "'.:,:. ~.i,;';~ '" '
, • '.p o!' ~~. t~ ,~l4- . 11- ',~'
,-;. ""',' "" '" ''', ,j FEBRUARY
.}{ 'f. ,!, -' •
To g;ay sole,yellowtails, and cusk, still very abundant, February
adds the large cod and haddock which the trawlers are picking up
on nearby Georges; This is also a good month to buy fresh halibut
from local waters. ' \ "
MARCH
~ :. . ...•. -;;:. ,,,',
Supplies of cod, haddock, cusk, halibut: and gray sole continuegood
and the catches of wolffish,which slow,downard'tnltlith~ tl~rh of (th~ "
year, begil:itop~e~ up. ,'T, hy -wolffishisone ofJ'~:~wE;,nglan4's under-exploited
fishes, a condition that will be corrected when housewives
discover its excellence. ,I,
APRIL
This is the best month to tryout recipes for fresh cod, for with the
largest landings of the year pouring into the markets, quality should
be at its peak and prices moderate. Halibut alsois atthe peak of its,
abundance, and haddock, gray sole, andwolffishcontinuaplentiful.
Rosefish landings begin to .go up aftera slow midwinter fishery and
now a real delicacy may be added to the menu as the scallop season '
"is ushered in. Sea robins, scup, and striped bass are being caught in
",the traps of southern New England,' and the first mackerel of the .year'
are being, taken in Middle A.tlantic waters, to come by truck or. Fail
to New England markets. '
. (
. I .
FOOD FROM THE SEA.
MAY·
III 'May almost any fish-is a good' louy, withmany species,'coming in So abundantly that their :freshness and good quality are virtually
"assured. New .species of flounders to trytnis month are the sweet-
. 'me~ted dab, the lemon sole, a la~ge' flounder caught only on Georges
"Bank, and the 'smaller winter ..'flounder or blackback taken closerin-'
'shore. Mackerel have now ar~ived in New England waters and prices
.: drop accordingly ; butterfish, squeteague, sea bass; and whiting return-
, to the southern New England coast and alewives to the rivers.: Mem-bers
·of the cod family-cod, haddock, and cusk-' continue abundant,
as dIo w.olffishand scallops. This is" the biggest month for rosef,ish,
- JU:JI\TE .
'. WIth' few'exceptions, M~y's sea:food"advice holds good' for _J~me..
'.The so-caned "market cod" ar~ now more abundant thanthe larger
sizesand the dab fishery is at its peak.' .. . '.
;~ -.;. .~.. \' ,~.AudusT '.'; . ~
JULY
, Adcl~d,t'o the list of.seafo~ds abundant in May and June are sword-fish"
~10~ being caught about Block Island, Two rnembersof the cod
family-c-the white and squirrel hakes-. appear more abundantly in the
.markets, usually in the fqrm of fillets. Jladdoc~ Iandings continue
\ Jarge .. 'I'hisis the.peak month for thewp.itingfish~Q~~'andin southern
. NewE~gland th~ largestcatches of ]ob~ters a're being made.' .
;, "...', - , __:'. ','. :' to, ". ,. ~.' ',,', ' . , •.•.•••
',:,. n '; ..
This is'the best month of the year fors~ordfishing, hence the best
month toenjoy the tender, richly flavored swordfish steaks, Mackerel
are ext~emely abundant and lobster .fishermen in Massachusetts are"
making their biggest catches. Haddock, hake, cusk, and whiting con-tinue.
good buys, as do yellowtails, dabs, and blackbacks. Rosefish,
whitlng,and'scallops'arealso abundant. ..."
SEPTEMBER
" '-~' ~
September is the biggest month of.the hake arid yellowtail fisheries, '
. Cod' catches' are relatively low; haddock 'landings are falling' off but '
.'still good, especially from South Channel.,R6sefish and. whiting are
.coming in, almost as fast as' they did at the peak of their seasons and /
whiting arestillabundant. In Maine this is the best month for lobsters. \
:(. ,.'
/ OCTOBER
'InOctober, try pollock, a handsome member of the cod family caught
throughout theyear butin special abundance duringOctober, Novem-
8 CONSERVATIQN BULLETIN 33
.,.. . .
bel', and, December. Pollock usually appears in the markets in "con-.
venient fillets, white and fine-flavored. Haddock and hake continue
in the markets in good quantity; among flounders, blackbacks and
dabs are good buys; rosefish and scallops..are abundant. Mackerel
begin to move south but large catches of these fish, fat after their
summer's feeding, are still being made. ,.
Pollock catches are still very large and yellowtail and dab are plenti-ful,
Most of the fisheries this month' are yielding only average or
[ower-than-average catches, :but an excellent variety is still available,
with only the "s'umm(H'fishes"like swordfish, whiting, andsqueteague
missing, from local "raters. " t
SOURCES OF SUPPLY
As we have seen, from six to seven hundred million pounds of fish
and shellfish are brought into the ports of New England each year.
Half of the catch comes in the holds of seagoing vessels into the great
fishing centers of Boston, Gloucester, and Portland;' the remailider
- comes in smaller vessels and boats into the many smaller coastal cities
and towns that offer anchorage for fishing boats and means of trans-porting
fish to market. Where do the fish come from->- the haddock
and cod by the hundred million pounds, the gleaming, iridescent mack-erel,
the giant swordfish that weigh several hundred pounds apiece, the
colorful rosefish, the flounders and pollock and herring and lobsters ~
,They come from an undersea terrain as varied and as clearly defined
as the continent that borders it, avast expanse of water incluclingthe
I whole coastline from rocky Maine to the quieter and more protected
shores of Rhode Island and Connecticut, stretching out Into the semi-enclosed
sea known as the Gulf of Maine, extending into the·oce'an 200
miles to New England's famous fishing banks, and on 500 to 800miles
to the waters off Nova Scotia and the Banks of Newfoundland. ,
East of Maine, New Hampshire, and MassachusettsIies the great
basin of water known as the Gulf of Maine-its northern, western, and
. southwestern rim formed by the curving shoreline from Cape Sable
to Provincetmvn.· To the south and east, the rim of the Gulf lies
··1,
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SQ-IOO 100 AND DEEPER
60·
10' CONSE.RV ATION ,BULLETIN 33
/;.1. •
from 12 to 600 feet under water and consists of a 250-mile ridge (a
sort of submarine 'mountain chain)' that forms a barrier between the
mile-deep waters of the open Atlantic and the shallower basin of the
Gulf. Scattered along this curving ridge are the offshore fishing
grounds of New Engl,and, known as Georges, Browns, and Seal Island, Banks.'····
From Georges Bank, with its area of 22,000 square miles, about
100 million pounds offish are taken each year.3The fishing grounds
included in the Georges area lie from 80 to 220 miles from Boston,
'which means that fish taken there usually arrive in port in first-class
condition .. Browns Bank, next to the eastward, is only a fraction of
the size of Georges. Haddock, rosefish, .cod, pollock, cusk, and floun-ders
are the principal species making up its 35-million-pound annual
yield. Seal Island, the shoal which completes the seaward rim of the
Gulf of Maine, is visited only by line trawlers and is a relatively unim-portantfishing
ground. ' ' .
More than a third of all New England's fish comefrom the under-·
water domain just described-s-thebesin of the Gulf of Maine plus
the offshore banks that form its seaward boundary. Another one-fourth
comes from a more distant chain of banks that Iieoff the south-eastern
coasts ofN ova Scotia and .Newfoundlandfrom 38 to 62hcmrs'
.trawler run from Boston-La Ha~e, Emerald, Sable Island, and
Banquereau; while southeast of Newfoundland lies thefamous Grand
Bank. Ina recent year, 141 United States vessels fished th'eNova
Scotian banks and, brought back 'lOa million pounds of' fish. The
catch by United States vessels on the Newfoundland banks and the'
Gulf of St. Lawrence banks is negligible.'
The fishing grounds of southern New England contrast markedly
with those described above, consisting for the most part of gently
sloping sea bottoms where shore fish;such as flounders, squeteague, and
sea bass are found. These grounds lie comparatively close inshore,
. and so most of the fishing is done by smaller boats. '
FISHERMEN AND FISHING BOATS
How the Fisheries Began. ..:
The fisheries of New;England were the first commercial enterprise
in our country. Years before permanent colonies were established the
taking of fish from offshore waters had been under w~y. We know
that in 1497 John Cabot reported the abundance of codfish at New-foundlandto
his patron; Henry VIT. . Vessels began to sail out9f
, ~In 1940, Georges Bank proper', yielded 73,000,000 pounds; Siouth Channel, separating
th'll Bunk from Nantucket Shoals, 75,000,000 pounds ; and Nantucket Shoals, 6,OOO,Oqp
~nn~ .
/
I··
FOODFRoOMTHE SEA ,:11
European ports to fish for cod on the Grand Bank, and by the middle. .
<, . 1500'sthis fleet numbered about 300sail, and included boats from Spain,
Portugal, France; and England .. Need for land stations from which
to operate played a part in the establishment of colonies; and com-petition
for fishing advantages on the Grand Bank and the Nova
-Scotian and New England coasts was an important cause of the wars
: between France and England, as well as of later disputes between
.England and the' American. colonies. Even before the .Revolution,
their large export trade in fish had gained the colonies an important
place in world trade, and attempts by England to place restrictions
. on-this trade were among the major grievances that led to the'war--- -
for' ipdependence. . ..... '. . .'
. -The war itself was a disaster to the fisheries, for most of the vessels
.were-tnken over for naval service, while fishing wharves and shore
equipment rotted away:. After the Revolution, however, the fisheries
returned to a place of importance, only to suffer a fresh setback in the
War of 1812. The subsequent period of expansion brought' the in-creased
development of the deep-sea fisheries, the rise of the mackerel
fishery, arid the beginning of important herring,' oyster; and menhaden
fisheries.· During the past half century the yield of the NewEngland
·t?~Ae;t1iehsas varied from. 400,000,000 pounds to 'neurly700,OOO,OOO
pounds. .
.New England's. Place Among Un,ted "States Fisheries
The five New·England States that support marine fisheries provide .
I 15 percent of the Nation'ssupplyof fish; . By tradition the fishery
capital of the Nation, New Erigland .nowsees its supremacy- in this
field challenged by the. younger fisheries of other sections. In' total
production and value of fishery products it is far outstripped by the
Pacific coast, whose production of one and three-quarter billion pounds
exceeds that of all the States from Maine to Texas combIned.' How-ever,
the Pacific coast fisheries are built largely around pilchard, sal- .
mon, and tuna and their principal products are camied fish and fish oil I
-andmeal. By contrast, N~~_~!!gl~J!g'sJi~h "Withfew exceptionsgo
directly from the sea to the consumer as they are caught, 01' as parch- .
ment-jacketedflllets. Therefore, while the west coast leads in the
canned -fish and the fish-oil and meal trade, New England remains the
center of the fresh-fish industry of the country. Onthe Atlantic coast,
moreover, the waters bordering the New England States still rank
first as'fish producers, providing a third of the fish taken from Maine
to Texas. 'Fishermen who go to sea from New England's .historic
ports receive a larger total income from their aquatic harvest than
fishermen of any other geographic section of the Atlantic coast, and
their fish are a little more valuable, pound for pound, than any other
fish in the Uriited States. (Table 2.) - .
. \
12 CONSE.RVAT~ON, BULLETIN 33
12,514, '
Figure 3•...:..lnto theBo~to~Fish "Pier come two-flfths of all the flsh caught in Ne"" Englatlcl,
, . " on~-eighth of. the ,total Atlantic coast catch. 'c';'
/
FOOD FiU)M 'THE SEA 13 ' .,'. .
TABLE ,2.-The fieherie« oj New England. in 1940 ,compared withehose oj other
, ' sections oj the coast
. . .,
Catch Value manufactured - products
,.
Number
Section of fisher- .. Av:e~age -
men Value to price By mfg. Pounds By fisher fishermen recpeievred esmtaebnlitssh- men
pound
,.
.. ' .' .
New Enfland_~ --____---- _-_______ 18,546 626;054,000 $20, 494. 000 ' $0,032 $23, 324, 155 $1,356,815 Middle tlantie __________:~_____ 7,737 355,553,000 7,651,000 .021 15,815,684 513,165 Chesapeake Bay___________~_____ 14,269 320, 736, 000 7.457,000 .023 11,000,398 13,306
South Atlantic and GulL _________ 27;941 575, 533, 000 14,645,000 .025 13,838, '590 109,845 Paeiflecoast ______________________ 25,183 1,453,281,000 29,256,000 .020 62,631,235 192,948
;
The. Fleet
,New England's first-line fishingfleet-· the large vessels that bring
in ,the bulk of the catch-eonsisted in 1940 of 642 vessels, motor-
.powered with the exception of about half a dozen poweredwithsteam.
Stn~ller boats "(about half with motor power and ha1f without) to-taled
9,131, making the number ofcraft of all types and sizes fishing in New England waters or landing fish at New England ports 9,719.
. ,'" ,
521544°--43----3 \
figure 4.-New England fishermen harVest the biggest aquatic crop "taken on the
Atlantic coast.'
'",
14 CONSE.RVATION 'BULLETIN 33
Fisher;en, either on boats or ashore, used 22 different kinds of
gear in New England waters in 1940.4 Out of this assortment of fish-ing
devices the otter trawl was by far the most important, catching
400,000,000 pounds or abouttwo-thirds of all the fish landed. No other
type of gear even approached the otter trawl in production, but the
relative importance of other principal types of gear in 1940 is shown
by the fact that Iines were used £01' taking 9 percent of the total yield;
purse seines and pound nets for 4 percent each; weirs, stop seines,
hoes, and gill nets forB percent each; pots and dredges for 2 percent
each; and dip nets for 1 percent.
Markets
, ,
New England's fish are shipped in quantities at least as far as Texas
and 'Minnesota. A survey' of retail sales made in representative
United States-cities (Johnson, 1936) 5 showed such New England spe-ciesashaddock
to be among the most popular fish in such distant cities
as Chicago, Cedar Rapids, Dallas, and Minneapolis. Rosefish enjoys
popularity il1Milwaukee"and Chicago jmd wolffish in Columb~sh'
while about a fourth of the total catch of whitingis eaten "in'!th~ St. . :t- '. !J;. • ,tt" I<;j' ~ •••, ~t Louis area, .. '",< ., "<' ." '" i~~" ,
A considerable -portion of fhe 'catch'; however, is' servedon"New
England tables. 'The New England housewife, loyal to local varieties,
purchases relatively small' quantitiesof non-native species. ' Citizens
ofFaU River, Mass., for example, (according to the survey cited
above) showed a;' year-round preference for mackerel, followed by
flounders and swordfish in season, while Bostonians favored haddock,
halibut, mackerel, ana cod; 'Manchester, N. H., eats more haddock and
mackerel than any otherfish, but Providence.R, L,"votes' for haddock,
'halibut, and cod in 'th~ order named.' Save ';£01' shrimpfr6m'the"
south, salmon from Can~dn"and'·~l;Ie:\JVest Coast, and Pacific halibut,
inthe great 'volume' of their seafood purchasil1g New Englanders' buy
New England fish. ' "
.0",
BIOGRAPHIES OF' NEWENGLAN'D', FISH AND SHELLFISH ~,
People who supp~se that fish are all alike-, that they. .taste '.alike ,
, look alike, behave alike-s- are much mistaken. Fish are.as-individual
and as interesting in their habitsas any other creatures, but (because
they live in a watery world where. people can seldom observe them
in the way they call observebirds or big game animals)' they are
, 4 Information on most of these methods of fishing will be found in the biographical ~ec-tions
on the various -fishes and shellfish, and more detailed accounts are given in some of
the publications cited in the bibliography.
6 Publications referred to parenthetically by date are listed in the bibltography.
I '
FOOD FROM T'HESEA 15·.
- .
commonly thought to have no more individuality than so many. lumps
ofcoal. To dispel this impression, these biographical sketches have
.been prepared to give some account of the way fishes live and of how'
the changing conditions of the sea bring-them famine or plenty,
cause, them to migrate from one area" to another hundreds of miles
distanu.affect their spawning and the survival of their young, and
ultimately control the numbers and kinds of fishes available as human
food. It is hoped that these thumb-nail sketches of NewEngland's
most important fish and shellfish will prove useful, not only to those
who wish to become acquainted with a wider.wariety of seafoods,'
but to all who have an interest in the natural history. of the sea. -, ,
, . I . . .
Alewives (Pomo/obus pseudoharengus and Pomo/obus aestivalisJ
Salted alewives in exchange for West Indian molasses, sugar, and
" rum founded a colonial trade that has persisted with modifications
of volume and circumstance to the present day. More than a third
of New England's annual catch of some 4,OOO,OOPpounds (taken
largely in Maine and Massachusetts) is salted in barrels, in part for
horneconsumption, in part for export. Lesser quantities aresmoked,
and some alewives and 'alewife roe are canned, but only local markets'
).lave,peen developed for the fresh product. .Compared with such fish "
ashaddock or flounders, the alewife is small and rather bony (average
weightis halfa pound)' but the meat is agreeablyflavored and so~e-
,,'.what less oily than shad. Threatened shortages of other, better known
. flshes-« especially those taken on distant grounds-s- focus attention
, 'on the alewife as a virtuallyneglected potential source 'of millions of
;.pounds of protein' food." \ _'.' ' .' '.
Figure 5.-The alewife, or branch herring.
(
16 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
~ \ But what of the supplyi Although alewives still hold a .place
among the 14 fishes caught in largest volume in New England, pres-ent
catches are insignificant compared with those of early years.
,Prob~bly no other fish (with the possible exception of the cod) is,
mentioned more frequently in colonial literature, and eyewitness
stories of the throngs of alewives that entered New England streams
every spring remind us of the tales of the passenger pigeons. Today
a remnant of those runs remains. Compare -Connecticut's 34,000
;pounds in 1~40,with her million pounds in 1896; Rhode Island's
20,000 pounds with 2,000,000pounds in, 1896; Massachusetts' 900,000
pounds with 5,000,000pounds in 1896. II). Maine alone has the size
of the alewife catch changed little during the past 50 years. Through-out
most of New England, overfishing, obstruction of streams by
dams, and water pollution have contributed to .the decline. A brief
account of the life of the alewife will show how easily human careless-ness
can 'deplete or destroy such resources, and, by.the same token, how
the runs could be restored by planning and attention. _
Every spring the alewives' come in from feeding grounds in the
open Atlantic to spawn.. They enter rivers and small streams, pressing
up even into shallow creeks where there is 'scarcely enough flow for a
fish to swim without breaking water. The first runs of alewives reach
the streams of the Massachusetts Bay area in early April and the
Maine streams later in the month or about the first of May. These
are the true alewives (P omolobus pseudoharengus) , called also
"branch herriI~s."Most of these early-run fish spawn intl~~ numer-ous
ponds that dot the New England countryside, rather than in
streams. Two weeks to a month later they are followed by other runs
composed of their close relatives, thebluebacks or glut herrings
(P omolobus Mstivalis), although. the name. "alewife" sometimes is
applied to these fish as well. The bluebacks seldom run far above tide
. water, often spawning in brackish-water ponds or in the larger rivers.
The branch herring occurs from Nova Scotia and the Gulf of St. Law-renee
south to the Carolinas, but is 'more abundant north of Cape Cod,
while the blueback, a more southern species, is found,all the way from
the Bay of Fundy to Florida. In the more southern parts of their
range both alewives are known as "river herrings."
In ascending the streams the alewives are said to move chiefly by'
clay,dropping back a little with the current at nightfall. They prefer
warm, sunny days for traveling and especially for ascending falls.
They make their way up rapids ofeonsiderable velocity, and accord-ing
to Atkins of the old U. S. Fish Commission, "will turn on their .
sides and push themselves up a steep, inclined plane against a sheet
of water not half as thick as their bodies,"
Years ago when small dams crowding into the coastal rivers began
to obstruct the passage of migratory fishes, citizens here and there took
FOOD. FROM THE SEA 17
enough thought :for the alewives to help them over the dams with, dip-
· nets; and in some places fish ladders were built. .Any tolerably efficient'
ladder served. for the. alewives. At Damariscotta, Maine, aseries of .
25 or 30 artificial pools were built of loose stones to allow the alewives
· to ascend a -50-foot ledge of rock over which Damariscotta Pond
spilled its waters to ra tidal stream below. The pond was stocked
about 1816,and in a few years a large run, of fish had been built up at
·this point.> In most places, however, fishways were not provided, or
were allowed to fall into disrepair. '-"
, Probably the longest alewife migration on record is 'their ascent
of the east branch of the Penobscot River, where they once reached a
poiht200 miles from the sea. Ordinarily, however, they spawn much
nea~er to the ocean. . , J .
After depositing their eggs in masses which' cling to the submerged
roots and stones of the stream bed, the fish return to the sea in an
emaciated condition, for they have taken no food during.the spawning
migration. As S0011 as-they reach the brackish tidal estuaries on their
return journey they begin to feed.
'- Meanwhile. the young, resembling small, transparent eels more
than alewives, are beginning to appear in numbers in the rivers. They
grow rapidly and by 'the time.they are an inch long have assumed the
tYPical body :£ormof their race. During the sumrnerand fall, when
about finger length, most ofthe young drop downstream to the sea.
, ,The movements of young and adult alewives in the ocean are little
known. Like the sea herring, mackerel, and menhaden, they appar-
, ' ently keep together in large schools, fish of a -size'congregating to-gether..
Sometimes they are taken in .large numbers in seines and
pound nets 'along _the'coast, and during the winter. months a few have
been caught in otter trawls (whioh are fished along. the bottom) on
such offshore grounds as Georges Bank and South: Channel.
It is believed that the alewives, like the Pacific, salmons, return at
maturity to their nativestreams. Probably they live three years in
the ocean before returning for the first time to spawn. . ,
Building up thealewife fisheriesto much higher levels 'of.abnndance -
is considered entirelyfeasible. ~any established facts support this '
belief;' For example, small' runs have been maintained: in streams
blocked by dams merely by releasing a few barrels of alewives above
. the dams each year. Stockingof barren ponds has established runs .'
within the three to four years necessary for the fish to complete the
first prolongedperiod of residence in the ocean. The alewives of New'
England are not a doomedresource, but a neglected one. In great
numbers of ponds and streams, all thatis needed is stocking to restore I
'exterminated runs; in others, the removal of screens at the mouth of
ponds and the building of fishways .over dams will bring back the
alewives.
18 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
Sea Herring (Clupea harengus)
Probably no other fish i~' the 'Atl~ntic is so abtindant as the sea
herring, and probably no other is so continually 'and extensively preyed
upon by so large a variety of .natural enemies., Although fishermen
have taken .herring in their nets for untold centuries', it is probable
that the total supply in the sea is little diminished from the days when
whales and fishes and sea birds were the only predators. This does
not mean, however, that the ,supply in any particular part of the sea,
remains the same from year to year. Like most of the so-called pelagic
fishes that are taken as they school near the su:dace,the herring come
and go with markedand often disastrous fluctuations in the numbers
available locally to' fishermen.
"
, 12.637."
Figure 6.-The· sea herring.
The most important use made of the hEtJ':ringis the. canning ,'ri,s
sardines. From half "a million to 2 or 3 million standard Gases(each
containing approximately 20 poupds) are packed each year in Mai~l~,
sardine canneries. ' According to long-established practice, every year
the canneries import almost as many young herring from Canada. as
they receivefrom local waters. Even with this additional source of,.'
supply the pack of sardines varies greatly from year to year. Canned
\ sardines are by far the most valuable product of this fishery, bringing
3%, million dollars in 1940,when 1,117,748standard cases were packed.
, While the young herrings are canned as sardines, the larger sizes-the
"fat herring" approximately 3 years old and the large mature
herring in their fourth summer or older-are utilized chiefly for srnok-ing.
Most are either soft- or hard-smoked in the round and thus pre-pared
are known as bloaters. In New England, most 'of the smoked
) herring marketed in retail stores are sea herring; but from New York
southward, the product called by the same name usually is prepared
from the alewife or river herring. Lesser quantities-are salted. or:
spiced. Some of the smaller sizes-young just past the "sardine'!
size-are processed as smoked boneless herring. .Even the waste.prod-
':' FOOD FROM T:HE 81M': '" 't9
'uctsof the' herring-processing plants are used, .flsh meal for poultry
, -and fox food and oil foruse in paints being prepared from these scraps.
, In New England, only rosefish, haddock, cod, 'and flounders were
taken in larger quantities than the herring iri1940. In that year a'
44,OOO,000-pound.catch,worth $408,000to the fishermen, was landed.
The value of the various products manufactured from herring in New
England was 7:1;2 million dollarsin 1939,and 4 million dollars in 1940,
a comparatively poor herring year. , " r
The sea herring has so many natural enemies that man is, in a sense,
an incidental predator. Almost every large fish of the sea, and some
of themediurn-sized ones as well, feed at sonie time on herring or on
thein spawn, which is deposited 'on the sea bottom. : Fish like the
haddock, cunner, and cod find the eggs that Cluster on rocks and sea
weeds a convenient sourceof food.. Even winds and tides may be a
cause of destruction, as' when whole 'schoolso£ young herring are
washed ashore by storms to silver'the beaches, with their' scales.' In
European waters quantities of spawn are tossed up on the shore, and
this happens also in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but not, apparently, in
New England. . ...' ' ' , .
It is in the surface waters of the open 'sea,however, that the greatest
slaughter of the herring takes place. The whole fraternity of pis cine
sea hunters-the bluefish, pollock,' mackerel, salmon, cod, thresher
shark, mackerel shark, swordfish and tuna-s-feed in part on herring .
, to satisfy appetites born 'of the strenuous life of the open' sea. .Fin-hacks,
the commonest whales in the Gulf of Maine, devour enormous
numbers; packs of dogfishtear through ,the closely massed' schools;
. whiting drive the luckless herring before them in, so frenzied achase
that pursued and pursuers often rush heedlessly into 'shallow water
where death by stranding puts anend to the hunt.
From such a listing of enemies (an incomplete one, at that) it would
appear that the herring are born butto be eaten, but they themselves
stand in the relation 'of dangerous predators to the lesser creatures
that populate the waters of the open sea. Among the favorite foods
of herring are .small shrimps .of.surface-dwelling habit, which they ,
actively pursue through the water. If the preferred shrimps are not
to be had, they strain the smaller copepods from the water, their gill ,
rakers serving as sieves for, the purpose. Although fish are not im-port
ant in the diet of herring under ordinary conditions, they oc-casionally
take small launceor sand eels, silversides, or even yo~ng
of their own kind.
Well known though the herring is, at various stages of its life it is
called by other names that are less familiar. ,The so-called "sardines"
that, are, canned on the coast of Maine are in reality young h~rring,"
,which are caught in great numbers when they come inshore, during'
.. -'"
20 CONSE.RVATION BULLE'TIN 33
the spring'"and summer. These young fish, 3 to 4 inches long, appear in.
enormous numbers off the coast of New England in the spring, usually
arriving in MassachusettsBay about the middle of April, and along
the coast of Maine, the Bay of Fundy', and the west coast of Nova
Scotia progressively later. Schools of young herring, ranging in size
from 3 to 8 inches and including both one- and two-year-olds, usually
may be found eastof Penobscot Bay all summer. Tn July and August
the sardine herrings of Massachusetts Bay are joined by schools of
"sperling," the herring in their secondsurnrner that have grown toa
length of 5 to7 inches. ..
,~;.;,
",' ; .
.~ ."/"- 12.638
. Figure 7.-Herring eggs adhere to weeds, stones, or shells. The dark eyes of the developing
young are easily seen.
Although the one- and two-year-old herring, as well as the large
spawning adults.iare still numerous along the New Englandcoast line
during the early autumn, they move out into deep water soon after the
middle of October, probably to winter on the bottom .. , During their
third' summer tli.eyoung herring,' still immature, grow rapidly and'
accumulate large amountsoffat among the body "tissues-. In Europe,
large fisheries are based 'on these "fat" herring, but on our side of
the Atlantic the herring in this stage of development lie offshore
more than do the younger fish, and so are less accessible to the fisher-men.
A few are. taken by mackerel seiners, and stragglers .come in
along the Maine coast. . ., I
During the winter following this third summer the herring become
leaner and attain maturity .. During most of the year they live some
FOOD FROM THE SEA' 2.1··.. , ,
distance offshore, probably near the bottom, but come inshore £0 spawn
from: midsummer to early winter. -The chief spawning grounds of
the herring along the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts and in the,
Bay of Fundy lie at depths ranging from.Izdown to 180 feet: Her-ring
spawn not only close inshore but on the various banks andshoals
as: far out as 25 miles from shore.. ,When boats are engaged in cod
and haddock fishing on such banks the anchors often come up with
herring eggs attached. The herring deposits from 20,000 to 40,000
eggs, in contrast to about 400,000 produced by the mackerel and up-warcls
of 3,000,000 by the cod. .f ~._..' • • • _
Primarily a North Atlantic fish found from northern Labrador to,
Block/Island, the sea herring is taken occasionally as far south as Cape
Hatteras. It occurs also in great numbers in the eastern Atlantic.
Mackerel (Scomber scombrus) . . .
: Every spring the mackerel rise from the deeper waters off the At-lantic
coast, where they have spent the winter, and strike in toward
. the shore. Traveling in vast schools or associations of schools that
may be miles in length, the 'mackerel approach the coast in two great
divisions, one that arrives in the offing -of the Chesapeake and Dela-wareBays
in April, and a more northerly groupthatcomes inshore
in the-vicinity of southern New England in late.May. Both of these
groups work up the coast in a northeasterly direction.. ' ,
.: '':
...• ' . -..-.•,.i'. :.
.,1~.639
,Figure8 •....,..Themackerel.
. This annual visit of the mackerel brings them to the principal spawn-ing
grounds-an area that lies from 10 to30 or even 50 miles offshore,
and extends from the vicinity of the Chesapeake, Capes to the offing .
of Cape Cod.' The eggs are shed in. the surface waters of this area;
After, spawning, the mackerel spend the summer feeding on the rich
surface life which abounds in the waters over thecontinental 6h81£.
Wherever swarms of small crustaceans (especially the 'red copepod,
OalanU8 ) are most abundant, schools of mackerel are likely to be con-centrated,
The southern group of mackerel spends the summer in the
521544°--43----4
22 CONSERV ATIONBULLETIN 33
~ -
Oltl£ of-Maine, while the northern division summers in the GulLof • . . J . St. Lawrence. ' ,. ,;.' l.' ." '
The firstappearance 6£ mackerel in the spring is awaited by fisher-men
operating usually out ofWildwood and Cape May, N. J., and
often there is keen rivalry- tobe the first to.land mackerel and reap the
profits of early-seasonprices for this seafood delicacy. ,These vessels
work up the coast with the fish,' and fora period: of 2 to 3 weeks land
their catches chiefly at New York. As the mackerel approachNew
England waters, more boats from that area enter the fishery, and
landings are made' at more northerly ports-' especially at Boston, New
Bedford, and Gloucester.. During recent years mackerel fishinghas
been carried on through' so great a portion of the, year, that the fresh -,
fish are available; in varying quantities, from Aprilthrough December.
The heaviest Iandings cOlueinmidsummer.,
Mackerel in the fresh state is considered by many to be one of the
choicest of all food fishes. It is rich in fat and when properly pre-pared
is a flne-flavored fish.. Some cookery experts consider it too' fat,
to fry, and prefer tosplit and broil it. ' Large mackerel ,m~y bestuffed '
and baked. ;F-resh mackerel should reach the' fish ma.rk.ets already ~t
_dressed, for .theydo not 'keepso.well j'in the-round." They are 'often
sold as fresho:r;frozen:fillets-the l~tter, aY~dlablethroughoy.ttp,eY~,~r.
Some are salted either as fillets or .splitfish, arid some ,are, smoked.
Although the early mackerel fishery-was built on the salt product.Iittle
of, the catch is consumed 'in this .form in New Englund today.' The
usual size of mackerel seen in the markets is about 10 to 16 inches.
. Most mackerel fishing is done .from purse-seine vessels, but there
is also a small gill-net fishery. Seiners fish" during the dark .ofthe
moon; netters on moonlight nights. ,This is because seiners must s~e
the fish in orderto surround the WoY~ng.ScllOOls'With their nets; while
the gillnetters .cannot ' catcJi' fish if their nets are visible; Mackerel
feed 'near 'thesurface in the midst of innumerable small creatures that
give off a phosphoresc~nt1ight when disturb~d.The effect produced
by a large school of mackerel is a diffuse glow that can be seen by
, lookouts on the cruising .seiners for a long distance on a, dark night,
although it is practically invisible when there 'is a sheen of moonlight
on the water. 'Netters, however, set mile-long, perpendicular strings
of webbing in the water at duskand.fish them a~ daw:t;l.For,these .'
fishermen, darkness .has a different effect, .for die luminescent food-.
animals gather: on the strands, of the net and gleam as it sways in the
water. For this reason the mackerel seethe nets best on darknights
,and so escape "gilling" in the twine. At certain seasons and in certain,
localities mackerel are taken in pound nets and floating traps close
~~, ' -
FOOD FROM THE, SEA 23
I·
I
12.447
figure 9.-Mackerel from the open Atlanticarfi~e at a New England wharfside, completing
the first lap of their journey to America's dinner tables.
'.( ,". . '
The most interesting chapter .inthe-Iife storyof the maekerelis
the period spent in theteeming nursery of the sea, first as atransparent
egg about the size of a pinhead, later as a tadpole-like larva-that drifts
inthe currents so, helplessly that it is unable to keep right side upper-
"most; " During these stages the young mackerel is a member of the
, plankton, the namegiven to the driftingcotlimunjty of oddly assorted
. creatures and microscopio .plants in the upper layers of the sea. Dur-irig
a part of each year the plankton includes the eggs of many fishes
and of a great number of invertebrates, such as barnacles, starfish,
mollusks, and worms. Later, the eggs are replaced by the recently
24 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
I"
hatchedIarvae of all of these forms. In addition, there-are hordes
of the small crustaceans which form an important source-of food for
adult fishes. Enemies of the young fishes are everywhere to be found
in these surface waters. Among the more important of these foes
are the small glassworms that prowl through the drifting plankton,
or the destructive comb jellies which sweep the water practically clear
of fish eggs and larvae wherever they swarm in large numbers.
The mackerel egg is about one-twentieth of an inch in diameter and
is buoyed-up by an oil globule so that it floats near the surface. When
water temperatures-on the spawning grounds are normal, the larval
mackerel-about an eighth of an inch long-hatches in about a week.
About 4 weeks after hatching, the young mackerel develops fins like
those of the adult fish and, for the first time is able to swim .against
the currents. This so-called "post~larval"period lasts for 6 weeks,
making the total period of infancy some 11 weeks from the time of
spawning. "~ .
Recent, studies' by the former Bureau of Fishedes showed that the
mortality during this early period of themackerel's life rnay be ex-'
tremely high. IIl.Years whenconditions on the apawniriggrounds are
particularly llIrfiivor~bie; as happened in 1932, -asfewas four young
for every million eggs produced may survive theIarval pe?iod.·.·"The
un~8:voi-abl~direction of the prevailing winds and currents, which
carried the young mackerel away from-their usual nursery grounds,
combinedwitha scarcity of suitable food for the young were probable
causes of the disaster. (Sette, unpublished manuscript,') .
Studies of this sort· have thrown light on the hitherto puzzling
question of why the supply of adult mackerel fluctuates -greatly from
'year to year. Records show that the catch may fall as low as about
6,000,000 pounds or rise as high as 179,000,000 pounds. Thesefluctu-ations
are due to actual changes in the number of -fish in the sea;
and these changes, in turn, are due to the varying -survival of the
young in various' years. .A succession '0£ poor spawning years may
result in a scarcity of mackerel for a number of years. On the other'
hand, with proper conditions for the production and survival of young,
a brood of such enormous size may result thatthe fishery will be ata
high level of product ibn for several years.
Records of the Fish and Wildlife Service that trace the commercial
mackerel fishery back to its beginnings in 1804 show the extent of these
ups and downs in production; From 1804 to 1831 the catch gradually
increased to a level of about 70,000,000 pOUllds.During the next 9
years there was a gradual falling off to 23,000,000 pounds in 184().
Again the pendulum' swung, and for a long period the catch ranged
from 80,000,000 to 100,000,000 pounds a year. In 1884, the record year
for mackerel landings, the catch was 179,000,000 pounds. Compared
FOOD ,FROM THE SEA ' 25
'with';these early years, 1886 ushered in a period of low catches that ' "
persisted to 1926. Variations in the sizeofthe landings are still evi-dent,
'with the catch sometimes doubling from one year to the next, but
the general average for the-modern period of the fishery is near 40,-
.000,000pounds annually. ' '
Swordfish (Xiphias g/adius)
,From 30 to 70 vessels outfit each summer for the most picturesque
of the 'New EnglandBsheries-e-swordfishing. ,Cruising offshore wa-:
tel'S from' the offing of Block Island to the' Nova Scotian, banks,
swordfishermen capture their prey individually with harpoons-200
to 600 pounds of fighting fish armed with a weapon that is capable
of splintering the sides of a dory. The fleet lands about 3,000,000 "
, pounds a .year inN ew England ports, but so far does 'this amount .
fall short of satisfying the growing demand that in recent years
more than 4,000,000 pounds of frozen swordfish, have been imported, .>.
annually from Canada and Japan.
" Figure 1O.~The ~wordflsh., ' "
The,swotdfish ranks high, among the "quality fish'" of New Eng-.
land, Thick steaks entirely' free from small bones are cut from this
large fish,". They . are excellent-when-broiled; and planked-swordfish
.isa special delicacy. The flesh 'is somewhat like .that of halibut in
consistency, but ismore oily: and has a rich, indescribable flavor that'
is different from that of any other product of the sea.
The vitamin content of swordfish-liver oil is exceptionally high.
This oil has been found by chemists of the Fish and Wildlife Service)
to be "100 times more potent in Vitamin .A.than the U. S. P. reference
sample of cod-liver oil of 3,000 U. S.P.tinitsper gram, and 500 times .
more potent than the minimum U.S.P. requirement forcod-liver
oil." ~It·is interesting to compare this product and certain-foods that
we ordinarily regard ~s good sources of Vitamins A and D. - ~or
-26 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
,# -,.
example, the Vitamin A content of swordfish-liver oil is 25',000times
as high as that of butter or eggs.
The swordfish is so widely distributed that it is well known
throughout much of the world. On the western side of the Atlantic
it ranges as far as the Newfoundland Banks and Cape 'Breton (un-confirmed
reports of fishermen also place them, off Labrador); and
in the eastern Atlantic as far north ~s Norway.' Southward, their
range extends to the Gape of Good Hope. They are found also in
'the Mediterranean and Red Seas and' in the Indian and Pacific '.
Oceans. '
Swordfish appear off Block Island late in Mayor early in June,
and are seen at successively later dates on Nantucket Shoals, Georges' -
Bank, and on the Nova Scotian Banks, where they usually arrive in
July. They keep mostly to, the offshore banks, and are most numer-ous
in July and August. With the approach of cold weather they
vanish.' On rare occasions stragglers have been seen during the win-ter
months, as. when 13·were #lUnd .entangled in line trawls set for
tile fish in9~to125 fathoms of water off Long Island in midwinter.
Although no one knows, precisely where the spawning grounds of
the swordfish may be, it is certain that they lie at a considerable dis-tance
from our coast, for fish with ripe ovaries have never been taken
in American waters; The smallest specimen ever, caught in New
England weighed 7% pounds. In the Mediterranean, 'however, small
swordfish weighing half a pound.arecommonly taken, and about the
y~ar 1890 Liitken found fry in the North Atlantic that must have
been recently hatched (for they: were only about three-eighths of-an
inch long) in several 'localities scattered between the latitudes af'206
and 39° N. Therefore, .although the birthplace of the swordfish that
appear seasonally in American waters remains one of the mysteries
of the sea, it is assumed that it may lie somewhere in the, eastern
Atlantic, possibly in the Canaries Current off the western coast of
Africa.'
Along with the tunas and the sharks, swordfish rank' as the largest
known 'fish.of, the seas. It isgenerally supposed that the very large
specimens taken from time to 'time are of considerable age, although
little is known about the rate of growth or the greatest age attained,
The largest swordfish definitely recorded from the Gulf of Maine is
described by Bigelow and' Schroeder as having been caught in the'
Bummerof 1921and landed at the Boston Fish Pier. The fish weighed
915 pounds dressed; hence upward of 1,000pounds alive. The sword
alone was more than' 5 feet long. Another large swordfish was caught
in 1931, a l3-foot specimen weighing 644 pounds dressed. ,Theusual
weight of the fish taken commercially in the vicinity of Gape Breton
is stated by Nichols and LaMonte (1937) to average 265pounds dressed,
while Bigelow and Welsh .< 1924) say that the larger run of swordfish on
,\
FQOD FROM THE SEA 27
Georges Bank and in the Gulf of M~ine average 30~ pounds, although
Block Island fish run smaller.
The annual visit of swordfish to our shores is probably a feeding
migration, with abundant schools of herring, mackerel,' and other'
schooling fish serving as the bait that lures them to American waters.
These smaller :fish,in turn, are feeding upon the minute crustacea and
other planktonic animals which swarm abundantly in the surface
waters over the continental shelf during the spring and summer.
Closely schooling fish form an ideal food for the swordfish, which,
with its toothless mouth and weak jaws, is poorly equipped to capture
individual prey. Acporcling to common belief, it rises up in-the midst
of a; school, swinging sharply to right and left with its sword and
either wounding or stunning the smaller fish. The factthat fish with
broken backs have been found in swordfish stomachs seems to support
this belief, although, the exact method of underwater feeding is, of
course, hard to observe. '
Judging by the stomach contents of several specimens, the swordfish
may sometimes descend to considerable depths in search of 'food, rang-ing
down a thousand feet or more to capture small black fish (stomia-
," tids) with phosphorescent organs that live below the z011eof light pene-tration,
,
, The swordfish is a relatively accessible target for _the fisherman's
harpoon because of its habit of drifting lazily at the surface of the
water on calm, sunny days; with the dorsal fin and the upper lobe of
the tail fin protruding. Since virtually all of the specimens so taken
have their stojnachsfllled with .food (several bucketfuls of small fish
have been taken from a single stomach) it is thought they' may seek
warm surface waters after feeding to digest their meal. Apparently
fish so occupied are more or less oblivious to their surroundings, for
boats a!'e often able to approach within harpoon range without diffl-
_culty. '
Fresh swordfish ordinarily is, available only during the months 'of
June, July, August,' and September. Wholesale prices are highest -in
June, when the fish are just comingInto season, and lowest during,
the August peak of abundance'. Frozenswordfish is to be had through-out
the year.
Cod (Gadus callariasJ
, During every month of the year, while the seasons for other fish
come and go, vessels come into Boston, Portland, and other New Eng-land
ports with fares of codfish. , Cod from the Grand Banks of .New-foundland,
from Sable Island and La Have, from Browns Bank and
Quereau, from almost every bank and ledge of the inshore and off-shore
grounds from Cape Sable to Nantucket pass through the fishing
ports of New Englandto the tables of people all overthe United States.
28 . CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
12.753
Figurel1.-The cod.
\
The name "cod"is applied to an entire family of fishes, most of
which are important sources of food. The cod itself, the haddock, the
pollock, the white and squirrel hakes, the cusk and the whiting all have
heen caught and marketed in increasing quantities since the develop-ment
of fish filleting in the ea~IY 1920's. 'All the members of the family
are soft-finned fishes and maybe separated from herring, salmon; and
other fishes also having soft fins by the fact that the large ventral fins
lie under or in front of the pectorals, not behind them. The cod has
3 separate dorsal and two anal fins, a heavy body, large head, blunt
nose, and wide mouth. It may be distinguished from the haddock by
FOOD F'ROM THE SEA
/ '
th~pale lateral line, and from the pollock by the square, broom-shaped
tail; projecting upper ja')', and mottled color pattern. None of its other.
relatives are sufficiently'like it to prove confusing.
Most of the members of the cod family are popularly designatedas-
"groundfish." However, the cod itself is not always exclusively a _
groundfish, for, unlike the strictly bottom-living haddock and cusk, it
often roams freely' above the banks anclledges which are its home,
ascending even to the surface. These roving habits of the cod have
been discovered in' several ways. The most direct way is, of course,
by observations of fishermen and other people at sea, who have often
seemcodfish chasing squid, herring, or capelin in the upper waters,
sometimes coming-so'close to the surface as to permit their observers to
gaff them. It' is reported, also, that they sometimes strand on the
beaches of Labrador while pursuing capelin. The codthatsupport the , ~ ~- . famous Lofoten 'Island fishery off the northern coast of Norway often'
are taken some distance above the bottom, where they congregate pre-sumably.
in search Qf the most agreeablewater temperatures. Their
presence in these intermediate water layers has been demonstrated by
. European scientists by the use of an.eoho-sounding apparatus. On
this side,of the.Atlantic, a few hundred pounds are taken each year as
.incidental.catches of purse-seines, which are .fishedat the surface." /
:Eve:n~moretelling evidenceof the movements ofcodcomesfrom our
knowlsdgeof their diet.' The. stomachs of-theverysmaJI,est ~od that _
,a:r:e caught at the surface in tow nets, contain ,the· rninute.plants-end
animals that driftIn.the upper Iayersof the sea. 'Coda little larger
have eaten; in addition to the small crustaceans that areto be found-at
practically, al] depths, such typicalbottom forms as amphipodsand
small 'worms.. ,Examiningadult cods,-wefind that the bulk of. their: -
dietis made.up of animals that live only on the bottom, "
"Molfuskspredorninate over all other items in the cod's diet, and if
both large and small shellfish are available, the codappearsto choose
the b'rger va.rieties.> Sea.clams, cockles, and sea mussels 'are, eatenin
quantity. Theyareswallowed whole,the meats digested out, and the
empty' shells,stacked-in thestomaeh-like-a-nest of ash trays, probably
to be expelled later. Remains of various kinds of crabs, lobsters; and
prawns are often found in cod stomachs, showing that" they also cap-turethe
more active residents ofthe bottom. The spiny-skinned tribe,
including 'starfish, sea urchins, brittle stars, and sea cucumbers are '-.
eaten, as are the sand worm, Nereie, and the sac-like animals known
as sea squirts. Apparently no fish that lives on the bottom or hunts
.-close above it is immune to the attacks of the cod, which picks up
flounders and skates off the sea floor and hunts out cunners, blennies,
rock eels, sculpins, and sea ravens from the.tangles of sea weeds and
521544°--43----5
30 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
"" the shelter of overhanging rocks and .ledges. In finding its prey, the
cod probably uses its sense of smell more than sight, and so hunts with
equal success by night or day.
From such a diet list it is evident that the cod is the enemy of prac-tically
every smaller animal of the sea. Since even an average-size
cod weighs about 10 pounds and 50- to 60-pound cod are sometimes
taken (the record size is 21114 pounds) the number of animals that
must count it a foe is large indeed. On the other hand, the cod in
New England waters has comparatively few enemies.. Among fish,
only the dogfish and sharks can attack it .successfully, and of other
aquatic animals, only the seals, which are not abundant in this region,
are potentially important enemies; Very young cod are, of course,
.at the mercy of the usual predators of the plankton, and the slightly
larger sizes that frequent harbors and inshore locations are devoured
in numbers by such active fish as their relative, the pollock.
1.2.642
Figure 12.-Found in th,e bottom of the net, these inhabitant$,of·the seafloor are aIUist~d'
on the cod's bill of fare. c. r
The longest codmigration on record is that of an individual tagged
in Iceland that crossed the Atlantic and was recaptured in Newfound-land
2,000 miles from thepoint of. tagging. On this side of the At-lantic,
tagging has demonstrated a regular mass migration of the cod
that live in summer about Nantucket Shoals to the coasts of New York
and New Jersey and even farther south in winter. During this south-wardmigration
the cod spawn, and in the spring' they returntoNan-
't.·'
....•
FOOD FROM THE SEA 31
tucket Shoals.' Whether the larvae produced in these more southern
'waters manage 'to return to New England waters, is unknown, but fry
1% to 2% inches 1011ghave been taken on the bottom as far south as
the area: off southern Virginia .. Few, if any, cod from' within the
Gulf of Maine join the Nantucket cod on their southerly migration.
'l'he most important spawning grounds are on Georges Bank, the
.'Nova Scotian Banks, and the Newfoundland Banks. Many cod con-gregate
for spawning in Massachusetts Bay, but their eggs and the
resulting fry are all swept out of the bay by the water currents that
move steadily around it in a counter-clockwise direction. There is
-some evidence thatfry produced on these Massachusetts Bay grounds
_rna]' be carried away, some northward to Nova Scotia, some south
around the outer arm of Cape Codto the region of Nantucket. At any
rate, it is certain that cod spawned in Massachusetts Bay do' not grow
up there, and' that local stocks must IDe kept -q.pby immigration of
y(),ungfromotherspawning areas, ."',i,,,' ...• '
"Codaremar.4:eted in.threedistinct size ea:t~gc;>~.i.es-Thewell-known
;~,'scrod" isnet.a.distinct. species of fish, but"~Y,9lillg,c9,dweighing 1%
,.to 2Y2 pounds.' So-called.fmarket cod" weigh'fr'()m2.1hto 10pounds ;
."larg~" cod rnaY,be anyweight oyer 10pOlln,gS. In general, the spring
';;'<~A4;~~J;IY~~r:nrn~rmonths are the p~ri9dsof ;iargest cod.catches,
. . .. '.",', -.' - .....
Hacl~~ck (Melanogrammus ~egl;fin~s)
'The haddock is now the;fir~t-ranking New Englandfish'both.irrquan-tity
produced and in value, with the annual catch amounting to about
; ,:,140,000,000pounds, which fishermen sen for apprbximatelY,$4,OOO;000.6
'The sudden increase in the catchof haddock from the 40-'to 60-million-pound
level ofearlier Yearsca'm~about'1925,withtheQ.e'velop~~nt of
, 'a. rapidly expanding 'm~rk~t £orfilleie(f .and-quiek-frozen fish. The
.. haddock proved to be perfectly adapted to the demands -of this 'new
. market, being available in large quantitiesfrom nearby grounds. It
.is a very white-meated, firm-fleshed fish, of mild and-pleasant.flavor •
.Besides being suitable for filleting, it maybe smoked orsaltedvmade
into fish flakes, or used in the preparationo£ fish chowders. Lightly
smoked haddock is known as "£innan haddie." .
The future trend of the haddock fishery IS in doubt. The recent tend-ency
to'bring in larger and larger catches of young, immature fish is
eating into future reserves at an alarming rate. If continued, this
.practice will undoubtedly bring about a serious decline in the catch;
'which is already well below the 1925-28 level. On the other hand, if
:. the young are given, proper protection and.allowed to pass the period
6 In 1942 the catch of roseflsh exceeded that of haddock by about six million 'pounds.
See page 46 for the stOl'y of the rapid development of this fishery. .
32 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
of most rapid growth before they are caught, biologists believe that
much larger catches-possibly amounting to a hundred-million-pound
increase-may be made with safety in the future.
Most haddock of the western Atlantic live east of Marthas Vine-yard
and to the north along the coast of Massachusetts, Maine, and
Nova Scotia. In winter, however, some are taken southward to New
York and New Jersey. A few have been trawled h\ deep water as far
from their center of abundance as Cape Hatteras, although their south-ward
migration apparently is not nearly so extensive as that of the
Nantucket Shoals cod.: Neither does the haddock range as far north
as the cod, for few are taken even in the southern part of the Gulf of
St. Lawrence, and none along the coast of Labrador where cod are
abundant in summer.
, 12.643
Figure 13.-The haddock.
As far as the United States fishery is concerned, the principal had-dock
grounds lie on Georges Bank, in South Channel.iandon the Nova
Scotian banks farther east along this same southward tim of the Gulf
of Maine. On Georges Bank haddock are much morenumerous than
cod. This is true also of the 'inshore grounds all around the 'Gulf of
Maine, for although the catch of cod in coastal waters amounts to a
greater poundage than the catch of haddock, it is composed of fewer
indi vid uals.
It is easy to distinguish the haddock from the cod, in spite of their
close relationship. The haddock has a considerably higher and more
triangular first dorsal fin, and is conspicuously marked by its black
(rather than pale) lateral line and the black patch on the side, below
the lateral line and above the pectoral fin. In size, haddock average
considerably smaller than cod. The 'largest on record is an Iceland
specimen that measured 44 inches and weighed 37 pounds. In New
FOOD FROM THE SEA 33
England waters the average size is about 20 inches weighing 2'Y2 to 3
pounds. The largest haddock recorded from the northwestern Atlantic
(caught on the northeast peak of Georges in 1935) was 3'7inches long
'and weighed 15 pounds.
Haddock, on the average, live deeper, than cod and remain more
closely on the bottom, probably never rising far above it in their pur- '
suit of prey. They never school at the surface like pollock and do not
drive their prey in to strand on the beach as the whiting and pollock
often do. While cod may be caught over almostany kind of bottom,
haddock prefer smooth, hard sand, gravel, pebbles, or broken shells.
_ Although they move from one feeding ground to another, they wander
less than cod. However, recent tagging of haddock along the Maine
coast shows that they may migrate from these coastal waters to the
Nova Scotian banks, the South Channel, and Georges Bank.
, 12,754
Figure 14.~Biologists go to sea on the haddock trawlers, measure fish, and determine the
trend of the flshery-up or down.
In March or early April-sometimes as early as the end of Ja~uary-haddock'
eggs are to be found adrift in the sea. Most of the known
spawning grounds in the Gulf of Maine lie at depths-less than 450
:feet,and it is believed that the haddock never descend into the deepest
parts of the basin to shed their spawn. On the other hand, they rarely
come into inshore shallows for the purpose, but rather choose shoals
of moderate depth, often where the bottom is smooth sand and gravel.
34 CONSERVATIONBULLE'TL.~ ' 33
," The newly spawned eggs cannot be distinguished from those of cod,
but shortly before hatching the granules of pigment become arranged
in a pattern that is characteristic of the haddock. When the little fish
completes its development it hatches as a larva less than a quarter of
an inch long-a fragile, thread-like creature with nothing but its color',
pattern to mark it as a haddock., For about 10 days it carries the larval
yolk sac; then this is absorbed and' the-fins begin eo develop. A baby
haddock only an inch long can be distinguished at a glance from a
'young cod or pollock because it has the same high first dorsal fin that'
is a striking field mark of the adult haddock.
Whel'rtlieyare about three months old young haddock are ready to
leave the surface waters and take up the-bottom life of their kind.
By this time they are usually far from the spawning place. Biologists
who have studied the migrations of baby haddock by making systematic
collections of planktonic life ill fine-meshed nets have found that eggs
from eastern' Georges Bank (which is one of the most important
spa wning grounds) under-normal ocean conditions drift to the south-western
part of the hank, where they hatch. Part of the larvae are
then picked up by the currents that swirluround the banks. 'When
they are ready to, descend to the bottom they are over Georges Shoals,
where favorable conditions await them. Some of the haddock fry are
less fortunate, for they are picked up by another current that carries
them westward toward Long Island. Evidently' they do not find the
surroundings they need in order to survive, forno young haddock have
been found on the bottom in that region. Still-others, it is believed,
may sometimes 'be carriedoutbeyond the banks overthe deep-Atlantic
basin. These are doomed to death', for when they seek bottom'<in
obedienceto their racial instinct there is none within reach." "
Although young haddock cannot descend safely into very deepwater,
on the other hand 'theyalmost never go to the bottom in water less
than 60 feet deep. ' Unlike young cod and pollock, they are never seen
about harbors. ' , . ,
Pollock' (Pollachius virens)
, / The largest pollock catches of the year are landed at the Boston Fish
Pier during November and December. Most of the fish in these late
autumn and earlywinter landings are caught by gill-net fishermen in
coastal waters of Maine and Massachusetts, for this is the season of a
great inshore movement of fish. Migrating in toward Massachusetts'
Bay, the large pollock congregate for spawning on the broken ground
southeast of Gloucester and on along, gravelly ridge that runs north .
from the outer headlands' of the bay, like an underwater extension of
Cape Cod.Th.e gill-netters make large catches-' sometimes several
thousand pounds per man per day-while the fish are within -easy
reach, but netting comes to an abrupt halt toward the end of January
FOOD. FROM THE· SE~ ,35
when ·the pollock. again swing .offshore, On the fishing banks the
otter trawlers make catches of considerable size, and late spring again
sees a stream of pollock landings flowing .into Boston, and other ports;
Fishing for pollock brings New England commercial fishermen some
.half million dollars a year for a 35- to 40-million pound catch, and also
affords some of the best sport of the season to anglers off the eastern
tip of Long Island. Pollock are often caught at the surface.by trolling,
and because of their strength and active habits are almost as gamy as
salmon when taken on a light rod.
, 12.646
Figure 1S.-White, tasty fillets are cut f~om the pollock, a shapely fish qf handsome
green color.
The pollock is one of several New England fishes that has become
much better known during recent years, as an. indirect result of the
great expansion of ,the haddock fishery. When methods of filleting
and packaging fish were developed about 1925, the' haddock was. the
first to be prepared for market in this form to an important extent .
. Later, when haddock became relatively scarce, the fishing industry
turned to other species, notably pollock, whiting, rosefish, and floun-ders.
Being a white-meated, firm-textured fish of agreeable flavor,
pollock is well adapted to filleting. TheJillets, however, are not always
marketed by name, some such term as "deep-sea' fillets" being widely
used to designate all groundfish prepared in this manner. When served
in the vicinity of Boston, the pollock is often called "bluefish" or
"Boston bluefish."
36 i CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
The pbllockis a member of the cod family, and as such is closely
related to both haddock and cod. Unlike these relatives, however, pol-lock
range all levels of the coastal waters. They school at the surface
like mackerel; they break water like porpoises, diving and rolling as
they pursue the shrimp that swarm in' surface waters; they gather to
play and' feed in tide rips and strong currents; they are taken in gill
nets as they rove the water at mid-depths or in otter-trawl nets on the
bottom. They prefer the shallow coastal waters and shun the deep
.gorges and basins that are scattered over the continental shelf. They
are seldom found farther at sea than the 7o-fathom contour, and only
the large fish range this far' from shore. While small they often linger
about harbors and pursue the smelt runs into river estuaries.
Pollock are plentiful from the southwestern tip of Cape Cod to Cape
Breton, and they may occasionally be found considerably beyond this
.center of abundance, ranging as strays as' far north as Hudson and
Davis Straits and as far south as Chesapeake Bay. .
The pollock is a shapely fish with.a deep, plump 'body tapering to-ward
both nose and tail. The projecting lower jaw, forked, sharp-cornered
tail, small ventral fins, and handsome green color serve to
distinguish it from cod and haddock.
Some interesting pollock statistics are the following: The specimen
of average size is 2 to 3 feet long, weighs 4 to 12 pounds. The largest
of the species on record measured 3~ feet and tipped the scales at 35
pounds. A large female is capable of producing 4,000,000 eggs per
season (average is 225,000), each egg about a sixteenth of an inch in
. diameter. A 9-inch pollock's appetite and capacity are ~u~]:lthat it
can eat 17 young herring at one gigantic meal, .. '\. ,i •
The habits of thepollock at'l\ Better known than those of cusk, hake,
rosefish, and other species that never come to the surface where they
may be observed. From earliest life it is fierce and aggressive. Bige-low
(1924) said that theyoung pollock that "infest" harbors are the
worst enemies of young cod, and that a single young pollock 7 or 8
inches long is so fierce that it will scatter a school comprised of hun-dreds
of cod fry, causing the little fish to hide among weeds and between
stones and sheltering rocks.
Although salmon smolts, adultIaunce, and the young of such fishes
as herring, cod, haddock, hake, and whiting have been taken from the
stomachso£ pollock, these fish often prefer the small, glassy-clear
shrimps that in certain localities and seasons abound in the surface
waters. Even a large pollock will eat such small crustaceans as cope-pods.
Those that feed near the bottom eat crabs and shrimps, but'
..probably never take shelled mollusks, differing markedly in this re-spect
from cod and haddock.
FOOD FROM THE SEA 37
,Pollock eggs are buoyant and drift near the surface. In about a
week to ten days the young hatch as slender larvae with such large yolk
sacs that they drift on their backs until the yolk is absorbed. By the
time the young pollock is from 2 to 3 months old it strongly resembles
its parents, having all the typical fins of the adult fish. Young pol--
lock hatched in 'mid-winter are between 1 and 2 inches long by their
second spring. During the first months of life they live at or near the
surface, and in this stage of their existence the sea probably sweeps
them far from their birthplace. Pollock fry hatched during the pre-ceding
winter appear in spring at Woods Hole at the mouth of Buz-zards
Bay, although it is believed they must have been spawned east
or noruh of Cape Cod. In the same way, it is thought that the many
small pollock that appear on the coast of Maine have been produoed
in some distant, but unknownplace.
Hakes (Urophycis tenuis and Urophycis chuss)
The hakes-e-white hake' and squirrel hake combined-s- rank among
the ten species of fish taken in largest quantities in New England, with
the annual catch amounting to 19 or 20 million pounds and bringing
fishermen $300,000to $350,000. Despite this considerable catch,hakes
are hot well known by name to the average housewife. ' The two or two
and a half million that reach themarket as ready-for-the kitchen fillets
, are not always sold by name, so that manya housewife who buys "fil-leted
fish" or "de~p-seafilIets" may serve hake. 'However, hake bulks
verysmall 'in the total ,output of Ne~ England groundfishfltlets-i-only
about two percent. Besides sending about five millions pounds to the
'filleting plants, New England salts some two millions 'pounds of -its
hake catch. The greater part of the landings, however, are placed on
the market as whole fresh fish. Although soft-meated, the hake is
considered an excellent table fish.
12.793
Figure 16.-The squirrel hake.
38 CONSEUVATION BULLETIN 33
Stepping up hake production to as much as 50 million pounds a
year is considered a distinct possibility by biologists, who class the
hakes as under-utilized fish. Fishermen discard quantities of them
for- want of brisk market demand. This is no reflection on the quality
of the hake, for in earlier years the haddock-considered a "nuisance"
on the lines of halibut fishermen-met the same. fate. Large popula-tions
of squirrel hake inhabit parts of' Georges Bank and can be
brought in when the fisherman finds a paying market for larger catches.
Although the hakes are closely related to cod and haddock, they
are very dIfferent from them in appearance. They are much more
slender and softer-bodied fish, tapering back from the shoulders to a .
small tail. Moreover, there are only two dorsal or back fins (the sec-ondmany
times as long as the first) whereas in the cod and haddock
there are three. The large eyes and the long, feeler-like ventral fin
are easily recognized hake features. Both hakes are reddish or olive-brown
fish, darker. above and paler on the sides, with the underparts
and the sides of the head white or yellowish. It is usually impossible
forfisherrnen or purchasers to tell whether a fish is a white hake or a
squirrel hake, for the physical differences are rather obscure. ProID-ably
most ofthe commercial catch consists of white hake.
A peculiar habit of the hakes is their use of the ventral fins in feed-ing.
Presumably they swim close to the bottom, dragging the tips'
of the fins on the ground until these sensitive organs can detect a clam,
amphipod, or other small animal lying on the mud or moving over it.
Probably such active animals. as squid or shrimp attempt to escape
by darting ahead, only to be seized. Many years ago, in the laboratory
of the former Bureau of Fisheries at Woods Hole, Herrick found that .
'the squirrel hake depends for its livelihood far more on this delicate
sense of touch than on sight. This is not surprising, for it lives in
regions where the light is extremely dim at best, and does most of its
hunting in the complete darkness of night.
The squirrel hake is exclusively an American fish, living only on the
western side of the Atlantic from the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the north
to the Virginia Capes and North Carolina on the south. In the proper
season it may be found anywhere from the tide line down-to depths
of some 300 fathoms. It is a cold-water fish, however. As such it
remains offshore during the summer and comes into the shallows only
during the fall and winter. It enters the harbors along fhe northeast-ern
coast of the Gulf of Maine at this season of the year, and may even
run up into some of the rivers.
Offshore, hakes prefer the soft, muddy bottoms, which usually are
to be found in the deeper sinks or valfeys between the banks, as well
as the sloping sides of the banks themselves. The few hakes that are
FOOD FROM THE SEA 39
caught on Georges Bank are taken well down on the slopes, and line
trawls that are set over the deeper valleys are ..likely to bring up; hakes.
Line trawls are the most important kind of gear in the hake fishery,
"because of the difficulty of operating otter trawls on typical "hake
bottoms e ,"
Although primarily bottom fish, hakes occasionally wander up far
enough to capture the shrimps that live in the upper water layers,
although they seldom chase prey to the surface as cod and pollock do.
Squid, shrimps, amphipods, and various other small crustaceans are
the chief items in their diet, plus a great variety of small fish in certain
localities. I -The hake begins life at the surface of the sea, where it lives for a
considerable period. Hake; fry from half an inch to several inches
long have been seen darting about at the surface, probably capturing
minute crustaceans, While living at the surface they may-shelter un-der
floating eelgrass or rockweed. Some young only 2 inches long
obey theinherited instinctto seek bottom, for hakes of this size have
been found living olose.below tidemark- in submerged meadows of
eelgrass. Those that go down in deeper water have a curious habit
of taking shelter within the shells of living scallops, a customthathas
been described by fishermen as well as biologists. '
,'How much a young hake grows in a year is not definitely known,
but it is believed-that small fish two to thr.ee incheslong, seen along
. shore in summer, were spawned early in the same season.; Fish six
to seven indies long are probably in their second summer. This length
may be doubled -by the third ,summer, 'but thereafter growthis slower,
so that a 3:..:year-oldhake (ill' its fourth summer ) is about 16 to 18
inches long. The white hakes average 5 to 8 pounds, but attain aL
maximum weight of 30 pounds.' Squirrel hakes are smaller, averaging
2 to 5 pounds.with.the maximum about 8 pounds. '
Cusk (Srosme b.rosme)
The cusk is one of New England's fish that deserves to be better
known. Its meat, white and delicately flavored, is esteemed for the
table by those who know a wide variety of fishes and are good judges
of food qualities. At the present time about half of the seven-million-pound
catch is prepared for market in the form of fresh fillets, while
a smaller amount is salted or smoked. Biologists, are of the opinion
that supplies of cusk would permit an increase in the catch to as much
as' 12 million pounds. .Increased, consumer demand is necessary, how:'
ever, to induce fishermen to set more lines £01' cusk instead of concen-'
trating on the heavily fishedhaddock.
40 CONS·ERVATION BULLETIN 33
,"
A member of the cod family, the cusk is easily distinguished from
its relatives by the single back fin, which extends in a thick flange
from just behind the head to the rounded tail. The anal fin is like
the dorsal, but only half as long. This is a more slender fish than
the hakes, round of body toward the forward half, and tapering evenly
back to the base of the tail fin. The cusk lacks the long ventral feelers
that are characteristic of hakes. It is a drab fish/with the upper parts
slate-gray to reddish-brown or yellow, depending on the bottoms where
it lives. The dorsal, anal, and tail fins are black at the margins and
narrowly edged with white.
12.647
Figure 17.-The cusk,
In almost every particular the habits of cusk are different from those
of hake. They rarely if ever come into harbors or river mouths, but
remain well offshore, and they never frequent the surface waters except
during the. early months of life. On the European side they live in
water as much as half a mile deep; if they live in shallower water in
the Gulf of Maine it is probably because the deep bottoms are soft and
sticky, whereas cusk prefer boulder-strewn bottoms or rocky ledges and
canyons. Off the New England coast a few may stray down the sides
of the continental slope to depths of 300 fathoms, but here, too, the
soft character of the bottom repels them .. Cuskare found from Green-land,
Labrador, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence southward to Cape Cod
and South Channel, but rarely as far south as New Jersey.
The cusk is a solitary fish, never grazing on the sea bottom in herds
like the haddock or hunting in packs like the pollock. For this reason
practically the entire catch is taken by line trawlers. What food the
cusk finds and devours among the rocks and ledges of its undersea home
is unknown, but it takes the hook readily when line trawls are baited
with clams, cockles, or herring. In spite of its sluggishness it has a
strong, lithe body. Fishermen complain that-when the cusk is hooked
it frequently grips a rock so firmly with its tail that the line cannot
be hauled and the gear is damaged or destroyed.
Our knowledge of the spawning habits and the early life. of the cusk
is scanty. Fish in spawning condition have been taken near the Isles
FOOD FROM THE) SEA -'. 41
,
of Shoals in April and May; and a nearly ripe' female-was caught on ..'
Platts Bank on July 23. This suggests that the spawning season lasts
throughout the greater- part of the summer. Larvae not more than a
quarterof an inch long have been seen in various places; some-of them
close inshore, in the Gulf of Maine. The eggs have not been taken in
tows on this side of the Atlantic. Newly hatched cusk are about an
eighth of an inch long, and live in the surface waters until they have-grown
to a length of approximately two inches.
The cusk is very proliflc.for a medium-size female may contain more
than 2,000,000eggs. Most Gulf of Mainecusk are from 1% to 2%
feet long, and weigh from 5 to 10pounds. The largest on record meas-ured
3 feet and weighed 30 pounds.
_Whiting (M~rluccius bilineariS)
Although it is little utilized in the States bordering its native waters,
the whiting or silver hake is one of the best known and most widely': .,
used of New England fishes in sections of the middle west. This sur-prisingcondition
is due largely to its great popularity in the fried-fish
shops of the interior of the country. Properly prepared and served
with appropriate sauces, whiting is well adapted to such use. In St.
Louis, for example, it is used exclusively forthis trade, and so great
is the demand that retail sales of whiting .outranked those of all other
kinds of fish in this city during 1936. Only about a seventh of the 1938
catch went to filleting establishments, although 10 million pounds
wereprepared as pan-dressed fresh fish.
Figure 18 •...,..The whiting.
The recent generally increased demand for whiting caused New Eng-land
landings of this species to jump from about 2 million pounds a
year to some 41 million pounds in 1940. This increase does not mean
that whiting have suddenly becomemore abundant, butindicates that
fishermen who formerly threw away most of the whiting they caught
now find it profitable to fish for them. Probably there are enough
whiting in New England waters to support a yearly catch of60 million
pounds, when the demand justifies such further increase.
42 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
-"
The' whiting is a slender, dark gray fish with silvery under parts.
The two distinct and well-developed dorsal fins-' the, second much :
'longer than the first-distinguish it from most other New England _
fishes except the true hakes (white, squirrel, and others). Thewhit-ing,
however, lacks the chin barbels characteristic of the hakes and
its ventral fins are of ordinary form instead of being altered into long
feelers.'
The home of the great body of whiting on which the fishermen draw
lies off the New England coast between Cape Cod and Cape Sable.
However, this fish is found all the way from the Bahamas to the Grand
Banks, and from the water's edge down to depths of nearly 2,000feet.
,Closely related to the large ancIwell known family of cods, the whiting
differs from these relatives in several important respects. While the
cods are chiefly bottom dwellers, the whiting is a fish that ranges freely
through the water, probably moving most often at mid-depthsorcloser
, to the surface in pursuit of prey.
North of Cape Cod whiting appear in May or sometimes as early as
March. , They arrive on Georges Bank, as a rule, late in Aprjl.. In '
late autumn they disappear from the coastal waters and by December
are gone from the offshore banks. Like the majority of the fishes that
, are seasonal migrants to our coast, they probably sink into deep water _
along the edge/of the continental shelf, and may even travel some
little distance down the steeper descents of the continental slope.
The, whiting belongs to the group of fishes that live as roving sea
'prechitors. For such an existence it is exceptionally well equipped-a
strong and vigorous swimmer with a wide mouth armed with two
or more rows of sharp, recurved teeth. It is one of the principal
enemies of a great -variety of young fishes" including its, own'kind;
On the New England coast, it is not uncommon, to see bands of
whiting pursuing schools'of small fishes into such shallow water that
both pursued and pursuers strand on the beach.. '
Fishes that swim in. schools are the chief game of the whiting,
which themselves hunt in packs more often than singly. Thus, they
harry the densely massed herring shoals, feed on squids, crabs, and
various crustaceans, and often descend to the underlying sea bottom '
to prey on the growing young of haddock and other bottom fishes.
Protected by its active habits and its defensive equipment, the:
whiting' counts 3,S enemies only certain of' the larger and stronger
fishes of the high seas.' "I'he bluefish undoubtedly is an active enemy
of the whiting close inshore, although it does not occurin.the central
part of the Gulf of Maine" Or on Georges Bank. ',',', "', ' " ,
Because of their l~ovinghabits, the whiting apparently do not con-centrate
on any particular banks at spawning time, but shed their
-
FOOD FROM THE SEA 43
eggs during the summer here and there along the entire coast from
Cape Cod to Grand Manan. Most of the eggs discovered in the Gulf
of Maine have been floating over water less than 300 feet deep, al-:
though off Nova Scotia and southern New England they have -been
taken over much deeper water. Successful spawning is unknown in
the cold waters of the New Brunswick shore of the Bay of Fundy,
probably because the eggs need water as warm as 55°· to 60° for their
development. '
The prevailing counter-clockwise drift of water in the Gulf of
.Maine carries the eggs and 'newly hatched larvae from north-east to
south-west around the shores of the Gulf. After this stage of passive
drifting-the young whiting take to the bottom, presumably during
their first autumn when they are from an inch to nn.inch-nnd-a-half, ' r-long.
It is not known how rapidly the YOU~lg .fish grows, but it is
believed that the whiting. matures at the age of two years. Adults
average about 14 inches long, hut may reach a length of 2 feet and
a weight of 8 pounds.
Scup (Stenotomus chrysops)
The scup is one of the common shore fishes of eastern United States,
found' from Cape Cod to South Carolina. In 1940, New England's:
catch of 4:JA million pounds amounted to about a fourth of the ,totall,'
United States catch. (Statistical records credit New England with
10,842,700 pounds of soup-in 1940; but 6,571,600 pounds of this total,
although' caught by Massachusetts vessels, was taken off the Vir-ginia
Capes and landed at Middle Atlantic ports.) In contrast to
the whiting-little honored in its home territory but eagerly sought
for interior markets-the scup is best known in coastal communities
and almost unheard of by inland, consumers.. This is because it is
not filleted in any quantities but is marketed chiefly as fresh, .pan-dressed
fish; hence it is less adapted to long-distanceshipping than' . .
whiting, cod, haddock, and others. It is an excellent pan fish. The
flesh is' tender, flaky, and of 'good flavor, and frys well if rolled in
flour, cracker or bread crumbs, or corn meal. The retail pricegen-era.
lly is low enough to make it an inexpensive dish.
The scup is not likely to be confused with other New England
fishes, for the deep and much compressed body and the crescent-like
indentationof the tail fin. are easily recognized features. ' The single
dorsal fin contains a series of tall spines at the forward end but is
lower and soft-rayed posteriorly. This fish is brown tinged with
red or pink above, paling on the sides to silvery underparts, It
~eaches a length. of 18 inches and a weight of 3 to 4 pounds, but
12-inch>fish weighing 11/2 to 2 pounds are average size. .
44 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
12,649
Figure 19.-The scup.
_Although commercially the scup is one of the most important shore
fishes of southern New England, it is a New England fish during only
part of the year. - In spring, the scup appear in the vicinity of the bays
of Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts, apparently coming in
from the southwest between Block Island and Marthas Vineyard.
They enter the shallow coastal waters late in April, heavy with spawn
and traveling slowly-according to some accounts drifting in and out
with the tides. After spawning they move offshore, to wander in
schools through the rich feeding grounds of the continental shelf.
They are typically bottom feeders, and find on the rocky floor of the
southern New-England coast a great variety of the small invertebrate
animals which they eat; Often during the summer they rise to the
surface, swimming there in schools as mackerel or herring do and prob-,
ably feeding on the small animals that drift abundantly in the upper
layers at that season. When the water begins to chill in the fall, many
of the scup leave the New England area, and by mid-October most of
them have migrated south to winter quarters off the mouth of the
Chesapeake Bay. ,
As recently as a decade ago, no one knew where the scup went when
they left New England waters every fall. About 1929,trawlers began
to fish during the winter on the deeper offshore bottoms off the mouth
of the Chesapeake Bay and southward toward Cape Hatteras. Among
their catches of sea bass, flounders, croakers, and weakfish they found
many scup. A few years later, Bureau of Fisheries biologists marked
FOOD FROM THE SEA 45
large numbers of scup with numbered tags. Recoveries of these tagged
fish proved that many of the scup wintering off Virginia had been in
southern New England in the spring.
Almost the entire New England catch is taken in the waters of Rhode
Island and southern Massachusetts. Although occasionally a few seup
wander into Massachusetts Bay (Eastport, Maine, is the northern
record for the species)', this happens so seldom that these strays are
regarded as curiosities when they happen to be caught.
In Rhode Island and Massachusetts the scup season extends from the
last of April to the end of June. The spawning season over, the fish
no longer enter the traps readily and soon move outside. the waters
where traps and pound nets operate. The floating traps used in this
spring scup fishery are much like pound nets, but are buoyed by large
floats and anchored in deep water instead of being attached to stakesor
posts driven into the, bottom. Floating traps can be used where deep
water, rocky bottoms, or strong tides would prevent the use of fixed
gear. When the scup season ends, these traps usually are dismantled
until the following spring. To counteract to some extent the disad- .
vantages of the short season, the fishermen hold their excess catches in
pounds anchored in protected coves and ship the' fish to market
throughout the summer.
Such inshore waters"as Narragansett Bay and Vineyard Sound are
the places where scup .deposit their eggs, of pil~!le~~{~i~eand buoyant.
When the water is as warm a,~7,~o,,,th~,egg passes quickly through the
period of development, producing a larval fish.in only 40 hours. When
first hatched; a youngscup is about a sixteenth of an inch long.
. Like mackerel, scup experience' many years when unfavorable con-ditions
of one kind or another kill almost all the young produced.
In other .years the reverse is true, and enormous numbers. of young
survive. A~ a result, scup of commercial size are very abundant in
some years and comparatively scarce in others .. However, such fluc-tuations
are much less extreme than those"that oc~u+in the mackerel
populations.";' "
Scup have the usual enemies of moderate-size fish. It has some-times
been maintained-but without good evidence-that their spiny
fins protect them from. bluefish, which attack most smaller surface
swimmers with great ferocity. 'While living on the bottom, scup are
.preyed upon by sharks, halibut, cod, and other ground fish.
An increasing number of small boats from such places as Woods
Hole, Mass., Montauk, N. Y., and Wildwood, N. J., carry sportsmen to
fishing grounds for scup, now well 'established on the list of, popular
salt-water game fish that includes sea bass; bluefish; and weakfish. The
catch by anglers has increased so greatly that it is believed to amount
to a large part of the total New England catch of this species.
46 . OOi]~qS,ERVATIONBULLEiTIN 33
..Rosefish (Sebastes marinus)
Although long familiar to fishermen, the rosefish (called also "red-fish")
was practically unknown to the fish-eating public until about
1935. Before that time, the small catches made incidentally as fisher-men
sought other species were thrown overboard. Early in the 1930's
this picture was completely changed. Catches of haddock were falling
off; and in 1934reached the lowest level of any year during the period
, from 1918 to 1938. Otter trawlers made trips to Georges Bank and
even beyond to Browns and the Nova Scotian banks, only to return with
too few haddock to pay the expense of operation. Skippers began
to bring in their catches of the smaller and brightly colored rosefish.
In 1934-the year of the poorest haddock catches-they marketed one
and a third million pounds of rosefish, whereas the year before they
had brought in less than 300,000pounds.
Figure,20.-'-The rosefish.
About this time the industry began to experiment with filleting
rosefish and found it adapted to this method of preparation, hence
..suitable for shipping to inland markets in the middle west and south.
The next year (1935) 17,000,000pounds of rosefish were landed at New
England ports, and in 1936the catch rose to nearly 67,000,000pounds,
which was almost more than the market could absorb. Nevertheless,
the catch has never fallen below 58,000,000pounds since that year, and
in 1940it reached a peak of 85,000,000pounds. (Recent figures indi-cate
that the 1941catch may have been as much as 139,350,000pounds.)
In the few years since 1933,therefore, rosefish has risen from a place
. FOOD. FROM THE SEA 47
of relative insignificance to rank with haddock and cod among the
leading species of the New England fisheries. .
The rosefish is an excellent food fish, with ,flesh that is firm and of a
rich and agreeable flavor. ; Probably only the fact that it had not been
introduced to a wide enough market prevented its fuller utilization in
earlier. years. It is a well known food fish in Europe, and has long
been used in the more northern parts of its range along the western
. Atlantic coast. It is found from Greenland and Davis Strait as far
south as New Jersey in deep water, also in the eastern North Atlantic
and the Arctic Sea. . .
In general appearance the rosefish suggests the basses or perches,
but it is not related to either .. 'I'he brilhantcolor 'makes it easy to
identify in life, for it is' a"vivid orange or red.rwith paler underparts
and large, black eyes contrasting ·shatply. The head, large in' pro-portion
to the' body, is armed with prominent spines. Average mar-ket-
size rosefishjrre about 11 inches; the average weight is three-fourths
of a pound. The maximum size reported from American
waters is about 2 feet and 12 to"14 pounds. In the eastern Atlantic
and in Arctic Seas this fish reaches a length of 3 feet or more.
Typically a bottom fish in the weste'en Atlantic, the rosefish is taken '
in otter trawls.' Comparativelyinsigniflcant quantities are taken on
lines, especially in South Channel. Beginning in the 1939 season the
deep .channel .known as the Gully, off easternN ova Scotia, became
important as a source of rosefish, furnishing more.than half the total
eatch of the large otter ,:trawlers,. which, "with their long cruising
radius, 'are the only vessels able to reach' these grounds. -
. Unlike any 'of-the other fishes described in these, pages, the rose-fish
brings forth its young alive; that is, the eggs develop al~d hatch
within the body of themother instead of free in the water. The birth -:
of the young takes place during themonths ofJune, July, and August ..
Just before and during this-period it is possible to detect the presence
of young in many of the fish brought to market, because. their black
eyes show through the body wall of.the mother. Just.,hatched rose-fish
(which are about 14 inch long) have been taken at 'many places
scattered over the northern part of the Gulf of Maine .
..When first hatched, the young retain part of the yolk .sac, and none
of the fins are ,formed. Sog11they develop many· recognizable char-
. acters of the species-> large, spiny heads, large eyes, and relatively
short tapering bodies. 'I'he characteristic fins are fairly well de-:
veloped by the time the -little fish are an inch long, and about this
stage the .red coloration appears. During the early "reeks of life the
larvae and fry live near the surface, and about the three-quarter
inch stage they descend to the bottom and take' up the normal life
. of adults ..'
48 OONISERVAT'ION BUL,LEiTIN 33
-"
The food of rosefish, as might be expected, consists of a great variety
of bottom forms, including crustaceans, the smaller mollusks, shrimps,
and small fish. Its enemies include most of the larger predaceous fish
that inhabit the same areas.
Flounders
In New England at least five different species of flatfish or flounders
are brought to market from nearby coastal waters as well as from off-shore
banks. These are commonly known as the dab (H ippo-glossoides
ptatessoideev, gmy sole (GZyptocephaZus cynoglos'sus) ,
yellowtail (Limanda fer-ruginea), winter flounder (Pseudopleuro-nectes
amerioanusy, and lemon sole (Pseudopleuronectes dignabilis),
although other names may be applied to them as well. Of the five,
the winter flounder or "blackback" is perhaps the best known, being
found in almost every bay, cove, and harbor along the entire coastline
of New' England. Several of. these five flounders were virtually un Co
known until large-scale otter trawling brought them to light, because
their small 'mouths prevented them from taking the large hooks com-monly
used in the older methods of fishing. At the same time the
development of the filleting trade has led to more widespread appreci-ation
of the excellent food qualities of the various flounders. The
gray sole or witch flounder formerly was caught only in limited quanti-ties,
but during the past 5 years the expansion of the fishery and the
discovery of new grounds has brought more of them into the markets.
This species now has the largest total value of any of the flounders
landed at the three large ports of Boston, Gloucester, and Portland
(six million pounds worth $255,000 in 1940).
12.651
figure 21.-~.:thewinter flounder.
FOOD FROM THE SEA 49
These five flounders differ slightly in food quality. The gray sole
is considered one of the best of all flatfishes in flavor, and the bases
of the fins have large amounts of gelatinous fat of the sort for which
the European turbot is noted. Of the smaller flatfishes, the winter
flollllder is regarded' by many as the best flavored, the thickest, and the
meatiest. This is the predominant species taken in southern New
England and .the Long Island Sound region. The lemon sole, taken
! only on Georges Bank, is very similar to the winter flounder. The
yellowtail is a thinner-bodied fish than the winter flounder, and in this
respect is a less desirable food fish, but it has a good flavor and is now
marketed in large quantities. The dab is another flatfish that has only,
recently; come into its rightful place, for ill .1924 Bigelow reported
"so little market for it that few are brought in," although he described
it as an excellent pan fish. Now, however, about 2lh million pounds
a year are landed at Boston, Portsmouth, and Gloucester. The dab
has a thick layer of flesh; free from bones, on both upper and lower
sides. The meat is sweet and not oily, with a distinctive flavor and'
texture. "
Although the item "fillet of sole" appears often on the menu cards of
restaurants, none of the flounders taken commercially in American
waters is related to the renowned English sole (Solea. vulgaris). -The
only representative of the family Soleidae in New England is the
small hog choker (Achirus fasciatus). Althoughthe flesh is said to
be delicious, its small size (6 to 1 inches long) bars it from commercial
\ ' markets. "
The flounders are a particularly interesting group of fishes because.
of their habitof lying on' their sides. Usually associated with this
mode-of life are the loss of all pigment on one side of the body (either
right or left according to the habit of the species) and the migration
of one of the. eyes across the forehead, so that both eyes are on the
same side of the head ,(the upper side as the fish lies). Most surpris-ingof
all is the fact that young flounders begin life swimming upright
, like any other fish. At the age of 5 to 1 weeks (in the winter flounder)
the.left eye begins to move upward until it may be seen above the dorsal
profile of the head. From this point the transformation proceeds
swiftly, with the left eye moving across the forehead to lie beside the
right eye. The pigment on the now eyelessside fades, while the eyed or
uppermost sidebecomesuniformly pigmented. The little fish has by
this time abandoned its former swimming habits and swims and lies
on its side. The transformation is completed by the time it is not much
more than three-eighths of all inch long. With the transformation of
structure goes a change of feeding habits, for the little flounder, in-stead
of swimming actively in the open water and feeding on minute
50 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
12,652
Figure 22.-Lemon soles resemble large winter flounders but, are caught only on
Georges Bank.
FOOD F-R,OM THE SEA -51
plankton organisms, now lies on the bottom much of the time, like
the older fish. ..
Besides the longer migrations undertaken for the sake of finding
suitable temperatures, or at spawning time, someflounders probably
. wander in groups from place to placeas food becomes scarce. A,roying
habit is, however,' more characteristic of the flounders' large relative,
the halibut, and of tile summer flounder or fluke than of any of the
5 species discussed here. Both the halibut.and the fluke are exceedingly
active as flatfishes go, pursuing small fisheslike capelin and launce to
the surface, or roaming over the bottom in bands as they hunt fish,
crustaceans, mollusks, and other food. A typical flounder habit, dis-played
by both winter and summer flounders, is to bury in the mud im-mediately
upon settling to the bottom, leaving only the 'eyes uncovered,
On sighting a shrimp or other prey the ~ounder may dartupwith '~'
surprising speed to seize its: victim. On, the flood"tides, wheri the
water is bringing new, food. into the shoals from farther at sea; these
..flounders .are moreactive, .and roam about through theeelgrass in
search of food. The occa-sionalcapture of dabs and yellowtails in gill
nets shows that these species also may roam actively at times.
A female flounder of average size produces about 500,000 eggs an-
,nually, a large fish well over a million. Spawning occurs during the
winter months,. at which time the fish congregate in shallow inshore
waters. The eggs hatch in 15 to 18 days. ;
While flounders grow 1110rerapidly 'in some.areasthan in others, in
general the youngwinter flounder reaches a length of about 4% inches '
atthe endof the first year: Fish 71hin6hes long are 2 years old; 9%
inches, 3 years old; lllh,inches, 4 years old; 13inches, 5 years old; and
13%, inches, 6 years old.
Because it lives in coastal waters, sportsmen find the winter flounder
·the most accessibleofthe New England flatfish. In some localities
'anglers take as "many winter flounders as commercial, fishermen: .do,
and during the entire summer season virtually every southern .New
Eiiglandport, largeorsmall, sends outfrpml its docks numerous small
boats carrying anglers .to fish for winter flounders. In spite of its
.small mouth this 'flounder takes" the hook readily. Clams" are ap-
"puretitlyone of the best.baits.' ' ..-
"".During the. winter, from October to April, the winter flounder is
intensively fished by small trawlers or flounder draggersthat 9perate
".o.utof·th-e" bays, .coves, and inlets.ofsouthern NewEngland, At this
~inieo:fthe year 'the fish are somewhat more concentrated in bays and
'in..,letsas a-result ofa seasonalmovingin from more offshoregrounds .
· 'tospawn. Some 12;000,000 pounds of winter flounders' are caught' by ,
'commercial fishermen each year, with more than 10,000,000 pounds of
. this total coming' from the States of Masgachusettsand Connecticut.
52 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
Figure 23._The halibut.
Halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossusl
The largest landings of halibut arrive in New England ports during
the months from March to September, although catches are made find
landed every month of the year. Because of the good keeping qual-ities
of halibut and the excellence of the frozen product, the steaks of.
this large fish, white and flaky and of delicious flavor, may be enjoyed
fit any time of year. Much ofthe halibut consumed in New England
, comes from the Pacific coast, but North Atlantic waters still yield an
aunual catch of one to two million pounds of this excellent food fish.
Close inshore, the halibut was virtually fished out more than half a
century ago and now all the coastal grounds combined furnish barely
a quarter of a million pounds. The outlying banks; being less accessi-ble,
have held up better. Browns, St.Pierre, Banquereau, and the dis-tant
Grand Bank of Newfoundland each yield approximately a quar-ter
of a million pounds of halibut. Because they are very large fish
and also because they often frequent the deeper gullies; halibut are for
the most part caught individually on line trawls (only a quarter of the
catch is taken by otter trawls). .
The halibut is the largest of the flatfish-in appearance an enor-mously
overgrown flounder. It sometimes weighs as much as 500 or
600pounds, but usually a large halibut now means one weighing about,
200pounds, while average sizes are probably 50to 100 pounds. Halibut
are such slow grow~rs that they do not reach sexual maturity for 9 or
10 years. As fishes go, they are exceedingly long lived'. The 7-foot
fish that are occasionally caught may,it .is believed; be as much as 50
years old.
The halibut's slow growth and relatively high age at maturity makes
it possible for a stock to be depleted very rapidly where a fishery is
FOOD FROM, 'IHE SEA 53
intensive enough to remove a large proportion of the fish before they
have spawned. Regulation of the Pacific coast halibut fishery by an
international commission has proved very successful, however. Biol-ogists
believe that controlled development of the more distant east
coast halibut grounds-such as Davis Strait and the Grand Bank- .
might result in increased Atlantic coast catches, perhaps as much as a
12-million-pound total.
12,656
Figure 24.-The .wolfflsh will 'furnish many thousand pounds of excellent food when the
, American public becomes better acquainted rith it~ '
54 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
12.657
Wolffish (Anarhichas lupus>
,The wolffishis all excellent table fish that deserves to be hetter known,
It is somewhat similar to the hadd6ck (to which, however, it is no
relation) in the texture and flavor of its meat, and is often marketed
in the filleted form.- Biologists believe that the, present catches of
approximately three/million pounds could be doubled withoutdanger
to the future 'productiveness of the fishery. '
The wolflish is solitary, never schooling up in great droves as most
of the cods do, which may account, in part, for the fact that it has
never been marketed in quantities great enough to allow the public to
become well acquainted with its good qualities. Belying its fierce and
aggressive appearance (dory fishermen have to kill it immediately it
is taken aboard to prevent being bitten) it is thought to be a weak swim-mer
that spends most of its time hunting among seaweeds and over
rocky ground for the shellfish, crustacea, and starfish-like animals
which it eats. The wolflish has never been known to turn cannibal and
eat its own kind, in spite of legends to the contrary.
Although wolflish probably are not abundant in anyone place, they
are widely distributed from Davis' Strait on the north to Gape Cod
(and rarely to southern New England) on the south, and from near
the tidelines outward to depths of 500 feet or more. '
-Figure25.-The butterflsh.
Butterfish (Poronotus triacanthus)
The butterfish is one cf the best of table fishes. Fat and delicately
flavored, it is an ideal-pan-fish that fries to a crisp golden brown and
melts in the mouth. Most butterfish are only 6 to 8 inches 'long; the
largest run to about 10 inches. Schools of butterfish appear in the
shallow coastal waters of New England in summer, arriving in the .:/
, I
FOOD FROJ,\!CTHE SEA 55
vicinity of Rhode Island in late April, but seldom are plentiful north
of Cape Cod before Jlily. Although typically inshore fish, the butter-fish
nevertheless are not wholly confined to coastal waters but are
taken in some abundance 011' Georges Bank. In winter no butterfish are
to be found in New England waters, but where the fish go when they
disappear in October 01' November'is unknown.
Present catches of butterfish amount to about two million pounds-'
a considerable nu,~ber of individual fish, in view of their small size."
Figure 26.~The blue6~ .rune •.
TUlla (Thunnys ,thynnus)
The'bluefin tuna has only recently been considered a commercial fish
on the east coast. Present catches nowapproach a million poundsa
year (1940 catchwas'1,121,OOO pounds) and probably could be, in-creased
to four or five million pounds; , Lack of facilities for large-scale
canning in New England and competition with the Pacific coast prod-uct
have not encouraged fishermento develop 'an important tuna fishery,
but. recent' activitiesi'n the canning of tuna at Gloucester and other
placesmaychange the situation. '
Th'}fleshof the tuna is rich and oily, better adapted for canning
thanfor.consumption in the fresh form. East coast tuna are light-meated,
as are most.of the Pacific coast tunas (only the albacore has
true "white" meat) ." ',' ,
The bluefin tuna is found on the eastern coast of North America as
far north as Newfoundland, also on the Pacific coast and in the Medi-terranean.
Being an inhabitant of comparatively warm water; it "
visits our shores only during the summer and disappears.in autumn.
Noone knows where the tuna spends the winter months, or where it , '. spawns. ," , ,
The tunas are among the strongest and most active fishes, roving the
open sea in packs like. the predatory animals which, in fact, they are.
They feed on a great variety of smaller schooling fishes. Fishermen
(who call them "horse mackerel") often locate feeding tuna by the
56 OOiKlS.ERVATlQiN BULLEITIN 33
~, . .
flocks of sea birds that gather where the small fishare being driven to
the surface .
.On the .Atlantic coast bluefin tuna are said to grow to a maximum
size of 14 feet and a weight of 1,600 pounds. These large fish (as well
as the smaller "school tuna") provide sport for numerous big game
anglers fromMaryland to Nova Scotia. Most fish now caught com-mercially
fall into two size categories: school tuna weighing from 8
to 65 pounds, and large tuna ranging from 65 to about 600 pounds.
Summer Flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) .
In addition to the five flounders caught in abundance in New England
waters (see pages 48 to 51), the summer flounder or fluke is locally im-portant.
A commercial catch of a little over a million pounds in 1940
was made chiefly in southern New England, for this fish occurs only
in. small numbers north of Cape Cod, and the center of its abundance
is south of New England. Massachusetts boats fishing off Virginia
took another 2% million pounds, credited to New England in the
statistical records,
The fluke is considered one of the best of table fishes-white-meated
'and of excellent flavor. Average size flukes run from a pound to 5
pounds; the largest on record measured 3 feet and weighed 25 pounds.
Because of their seasonal migrations, flukes are taken in greatest
abundance in the summer months .. Then they are found in shallow
inshore waters, lurking about docks and over sandy or grassy bottoms.
In the winter they move out into deeper water. Flukes range at least
as far offshore as Georges Bank.
i
II
figure 27.-The summer flounder.
. I
FOOD: FROM I THE SEA 57
Its' size. and active, habits' make the fluke .an excellent game fish.
Unlike most of its sluggish relatives, the fluke pursues its prey (small
fishes, shrimps, crabs, and the like) swiftly, driving shoals of small
fry to the surface and sometimes leaping clear of the water.
" .,
. Anglerfis.h (Lophiu,s piscatorius)
.Among the virtually, untouched seafood' resources of New England
is the anglerfish. In-reality an excellent food fish, white-meated, free
of small bones, and with a pleasant flavor, until recently the angler
was considered unmarketable by the trawler crews and was pitched
overboard when it came up in the net. In 1940, h

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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT ·01", THE INTERIOR
Harold L. Ickes, Secretary _.
FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE . .
Ira N. Gabrielson, Director
Conservation Bulletin 33
FOOD FROM THE SEA
Fish and Shellfish ofNew England _
BY
RACHEL L. CARSON ,
Aquatic a.iologist, Division of Fishery Biology
Fish and Wildlife Service
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1943
For sale by 'the Superintendent of Documents,' U. S. Government Printing Office
, Washington, D. C. ~ Price 15cents
I,
. _t \
Millions of Americans are developing new wartime food habits,
trying foods they once neglected, turning to alternates for long
familiar products. For everyone of the ten fish or shellfish that
make up more than four-fifths of New England's catch there are
seven species little known or utilized, many of which could pro-vide
tasty and nutritious foods. Turning to these under-utilized
species will conserve food resources by lifting the burden of over-exploitation
from such fishes as cod and haddock and will augment
dwindling supplies of protein foods. Exploring the seafood markets
for unfamiliar species rewards the housewife and her family with
delightful taste surprises, for scarcely any other class of food offers
so great a variety, so rich an opportunity for mealtime adventures.
Before we can try new foods, we must know what they are-something
of their nutritive value, where they come from, how
. market supplies vary with the season. Our enjoyment of these
foods is heightened if we also know something of the creatures from
which they are derived, how and where they live, how they are
caught, theirhabits and migrations. This publication provides
such an introduction to the more important fish and shellfish of
New England .
CONTENTS
FISH AND SHELLFISH OF NEW ENGLAND'
IntroductioJ - ~ pag~
New England's fish supply 2
Leading species_________________________ 2
, Fish as food____________________________ 4
When to buy___________________________ 5
, Seasonal supplies of fresh fish___________ 6
Sources of supply __c ~------~------------- 8
Fishermen and fisbing boats__________________ 10
How the fisheries began________________ 10
New England's place among United '
ThSetafteleset fisheries_________________"____________ 1113
Markets ._________ 14
Biofigsrha_p_h_ie_s, o_f__N_e_w____E_nglan_d___f_i_sh___a_n_d_ sh_e_ll_-_ 14
Alewlves "_ __ __ 15.
Sea herring_____________________________ 18
Mackerel., ___ __ _ __ 21
Bwordnsh, _______ _________ ___ 25
Cod ' .. "_______________ 27
Haddock ,,_ ,31
, Pollock " . . 34
Biographies of New England fish and shell- Page
fish-CHoankteisn_u_e_d_. ___ _'____ _ _ _ 37
Cusk __"'____ _________ ___ _ 39
Whiting____ _______ _ __ 41
E~l~ou~n~deilrss.h, -_.:_~_=~=_=_=_=_._: _====== ====== =_====== =_ :4~8
Halibut " c .; "____ _ 52
Wolffish__ ______ _ _ ____ _ 54
Butterfish c___ __ _ _ __ _ 54
Tuna '_" : ___ __ ___ 55
Summer fiounder .-- 56
Anglerfish : _______ 57
Skates c " _ _ __ _ _ 57
The ovster,«; ~ ._ 59
The Iobster.e; ._________ 63
: ~~~~~~;~::======:::=====::::===:::==~=g= ...,••Shrimp ~__" ~__ ____ 71
••. Sell mussels "_____________________ n
Bibliography , ----- 72
Conservation of the rich natural resources of the sea is a job for"
the consuming public as well as' for State and Federal governments.
Each of the millions of people who buy and eat fish can play an active
part in conservation by, utilizing a greater variety of seafoods. In
New England, the specificjob is to spread consumption more uniformly
over the nearly 80 species of fish and shellfish that are brought, into
local ports eachyear. Production records 'of the fishing industry show
a serious lack of balance-c-overexploitation of a few species on one
hand, wasteful underexploitation of many species on the other. Al-though
600,000,000pounds of seafoodare caught byNew England fish-ermen
each year, 85percent of this poundage consists of only 10species,
while the remaining 70 species are landed in quantities so limited that, '
they make up only 15'percent of the total catch.
There are two reasons for this: state of affairs. First, of course, is
the obvious fact that some species are more abundant or more easily
1
CO~SERVATION BULLETIN 33
caught than others, Second, and more important because remediable,
is the lack of demand for the neglected seventy, caused by the fact that
the public is unfamiliar with them and hesitates to try new species it
knows nothing about. The 10 seafoods the New Englander eats so ex-:
tensively are, for the most part, the best-known species-fishes by tra-dition
as characteristic of New England as baked beans or boiled
dinners. Haddock and cod, mackerel and herring, lobsters and clams- ,
these are the natural choices of the New Englander when he goes to his
seafood market to buy fish for dinner. The only newcomers that have,
in recent years, given strong competition to these aristocrats of the fish
world are rosefish (also called "redfish"), and flounders. Still little
utilized are fishes like cusk, some of the flounders, skates, hakes, anglers,
and dozens of others. From the standpoint of human welfare, thou-sands
upon thousands of pounds of these less known fishes go to waste
in the sea each year; ,
If New England fisheries are to yield their full' quota of food, now
and in future years, the burden of overexploitation must be lifted from
the few species that now make up more than four-fifths of the catch;
the slack of wasted pounds must be taken up from the fishes that now
are underutilized. To this end, the major purpose of this publication
is to acquaint the consumer with the fishes available in good quantity
in New England markets, and to introduce those fishes as individual
creatures-' individual in flavor, food values, and gustatory appeal, in
their habits, migrations, and relations to a varied sea environment,
each with its own seasons of abundance and scarcity which, in turn,
affect its availability and market quality.
NEW ENGLAND'S FISH SUPPLY
Leading Species
,At the present time, the largest item in New England's catch is
haddock, with landings in 1940 amounting to 141,000,000 pounds
valued at $4,600,000 (returns to fishermen). ' In the same year rose-fish
ranked second, producing 85,000,000 pounds worth one and a
quarter millions. Third in poundage but second in value was cod,
with a yield of 82,000,000 pounds worth two and a half millions.' '
Flounders, herring, whiting, pollock, and mackerel were the only
other speciestaken in quantities exceeding 35,000,000 pounds. Six-teen
others were caught in quantities exceeding a million pounds, and
catches of less than a million pounds each were made of about 50
minor species.
1Members of the cod family (haddock, cusk, hake, whiting, and pollock, as well as the
cod itself) ordinarily make up three-fifths of the total New England catch.
FOOD FROM THE .SEA 3
12.617
Figure 1.-Mass production is the keynote of New England's high seas fisheries.
·.!
4 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
TABLE I.-Fish and shellfish lasided in New England in 1940 in quantities exceeding
100,000 pounds ' • /:>1-
Fish
3,193,400
124,300
2,475,700
82,288,900
7,966,500
Pounds Value to Fish Pounds Value to
fishermen fishermen
---- ----- ----
$19,141 Skates ______________________ 176,300 $2,331
5,494 Smelt __________________. __ 562,300 45,617
94,694 squeteatues or "sea trout" _ 153,700 11,158
2,502,745 Striped ass________________ 147,400 18,881
204,445 TSawuotordgfis_h_______________________.______________ 1,337,300 230,088 156,800 6,860
24,480 Tuna ______________'2________ 1,120,900 39,229
1,143 WWohliftifnisgh __________________________________.__.__4_0,868,900 335,855 1,233,000 33,721
279,489
218,993 SHELLFISH
'728,230 Crabs ______________________2,419,400 54,276
468,234 Lobsters ____________________11,165,300 2,000,566
214,402 Clams:
18,598 Hard _____________________4,453,100 583,721
19,426 Razor. ___________________ 342,400 11,085
4,600,513 Soft ______________________15,388,000 1,160,114
295,551 Oysters _____________________5,990,200 1,051,224
147,386 Scallops:
401'.,120 Bay ______-___.____________ 1,131,400 382,376
7,305 Sea________ r; ~.___________5,390,900 799,850
767,334 Conchs _____________________ 424,500 8,116
691,055 Sea urchins _________________ 102,500 785
'1,271,303 Seaweeds:
264,156. 'mh~~~~:~::~::::::::::::: 596,200 59,182
144,950 137,000 685
1,582 Sandvworms and blood-
22,214 worms ____________________ 55\1,000 156,794
4,375
Alewives -__
Bopito- - _-_- -- - - --
Bgtterfish _ cod _
Cusk _
Eels:
Commop_________________ 273,900 F~~~~jifi~~~;;;~;~;;:;~;;;;;;~~. Yellowtail and dab . 33,590,200
.Blackbaok 10,692,900
Eluke.; _ 3,254,400
Other ___________ ____ 550,800
Grayfish __"~ "___ 575,500
Haddock 141,193,700'
e - 14,321,500
ut, . ;__ 1,129,000
ng, sea ~ ~_ 44,051,700
L .' e_____________________ 162,400
Mac e1.._________________ 35,969,600
Pollock __,, 37,333,500
Rosefish - 85,141,700
Scup or.porgy 10,842,700
Beabass ., "__________ 3,302,400
Se'itrobin ~_~ ~---- 142,200
Sp!td-- - -_"_-- 573,300
Sharks .----------. 226,400
Fish as Food
t" .,.,
LN ewEngland's marine bill offa:re includes so many items that it
i'fb'; 4he possible to make a diffe~ent selection from it everyday for
Ida half months. Seafoods brought into New England ports
from, staples like cod and haddock to delicacies like swordfish,
_,.and scallops. They include fat fish and lean fish, fish of . , ., ( .~.. .flavor and fish of rich flavor, fish for baking, broiling, or pan-
, for delicious and satisfying main dishes or for salads, appe-ar
chowders."
rcely any other class of food offers "so great a variety-so rich
,ort~.pityfor gustatory adv~nture .. 'The housewife who experi-
}yh,:newfish species and new methods of preparation banishes
,iti¢';fu:ppotony and provides delightful taste surprises for her
,,'~ti:For':,~xample, instead of hadclOck'fm~t~ for di.nner tonight,
'''ip.ilt 'new interest in your menu byser:vingthe little known
~.' o1ii$iae:rredone of the choicest New~nglri3:idtable fish? For
a-salad surprise try New England shrimp or-flaked mackerel in gela-tine.
Instead of expensive fresh salmon, substitute fillets of wolffish,
an excellent table fish that has only begun to achievedeserved import-ance.
Any new species that is available is worth-trying, if a tested
recipe for its preparation is at hand.
2 The Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as many commercial fishery organizations and
other private agencies, issues cookbooks in which hundreds of recipes for the preparatjon
of tempting seafood dishes are provided,
:.'
FOOD FROM THE SEA "
./
. 'J ~
\."'Besides th~Ir taste' appeal, fish lla';e solid claims t~incliision"in .'th~
:'family: diet on the basis' of actual food values. .'Outstanding among."
the 'facts 'worthy of .'attention is "thehigh "qUalityoffish" protein.ithe
·substance that replacesworn-out body tissues and promotes growth.
Fish,'oh the average, are equal to beef round in the nutritive value of
"their protein, and many kinds of fish and sh~llfish rankhigher than
beef.' "Amorigthese producers of superior quality proteinate oysters,
·pilchard; andsilver salmon from thePaeific coast; red snapper and
shrimp from thesouth, Boston mackerel, shadecod, and croakers. ,In>"
general terms, an averageserving of fish or- shellfish may becounted
upon to supply from a quarter to a half of the necessary daily allow-
· anc~ of protein. ;- -. .
Another reason for the high rating given fish by. nutritioniets is
their mineral. content. I'ron, copper, magnesium, iodine; calcium, and'
phosphorus, all ,essential to human w~ll being, are a few of themin-erals
that have been accumulatingin the sea for thousands of years,
·washed down from the land by rivers. Through 'complex food chains
·these minerals enter into the bodies of small sea animals which, in turn,
are eaten hy fish. To cite thr~e outstandingexamples of why these v.
faCts are .important.fromthe nutritionalstandpoip.t : Iodine, which
.keeps:the:.thyroid:glandcfunctioni~g':properlY'ris·found:in:·marine·food
.animals in quantitie~ 50 t9 200,.t~rP.esashlgh.as in any other foods.
Calcium-and-phosphorus (without whichproper deyelopmentof bones:
'and,teeth is impossible) occurinflsh :filletsiriabotitthe same:'qu~ritities
as in beef romid.Oysters,shtimp, andcrab.meat, comparedwith
milk.vprovidchalf as much calcium, five times as much magnesium,
~ arid slightly more phosphorus.". I~on and copper, which 'buildup the
· hemoglobin content of' the blood and preventorremedyriutritional·····
'anemia, are easily obtained by eating most fish. Oysters' and shrimp
are the .best known sources of these two minerals.' r' .
;. A.~for vitamins; fish-liver oils have long been recognized asfirst- "
..class .sources ofVit~mins.Aand D~ Less widely understood is the
.fact that the flesh offish also is a source of several vitamins .. On the
average, daily vitamin requirements"couldbe'obta:ined'frorh 'ordiIiaiy:;
portions of fish to the following extent : Vitamin A, 10 percent ; yita-".
minD, more than adequate amounts; thiamin (Vita:rninB1) 15 ·per..;
~cent; riboflavin (Vitamin B:Jand nicotinic acid (another element of
· the ,Vitamin B complex), 70 percent.
:~'.
. - .
.,.' .When To Buy
:,Every 'Il1onthof the year inthe '~~esh-fishmarkets, .certain fish ate
,~etter buys than others;" Although the'retail prices of most fish vary:
surprisingly "little .from season to season,' it . pays the housewife in
better quality to buya particular species offish when the supply)s':"
521544°--43--;-2 ~ ,
\.
6' ' , ' CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
greatest:'" When whiting or pollock, for example, are most abundant
in local waters, boats are making their 'catches in minimum time and
the fish are arriving in the markets in the best possible condition.
, These comments, of course, .do not apply to frozen fish, which, be-'
•cause of the excellence of modern refrigeration, are usually equal to
fresh in taste, appearance, and food value., Just as quick freezing,
makes a great variety 'of fruits and vegetables available in attractive
packages every month of the year, it also makes possible the serving
"of many kinds, of fish out of season..
Seasonal Supplies of Fresh Fish
JANUARY
This is "one of the best months to try gray" sole and yellowtails-white-
meated flounders that are now being brought in abundantly by ( ice-encrusted trawlers from the fishing, banks. Another fish to get
acquainted with in J a-p,uaryis the eusk, whose delicate flavor is 'Yell
'known to connoisseurs of good food, and deserves to be.better known
to all American housewives. Theremay be a last. chance to buyfresh
mackerel this month, for a few of theseflsh.sometimes .e lingei· 'about
southernN ew England after the !ir~t of the' year; "'.:,:. ~.i,;';~ '" '
, • '.p o!' ~~. t~ ,~l4- . 11- ',~'
,-;. ""',' "" '" ''', ,j FEBRUARY
.}{ 'f. ,!, -' •
To g;ay sole,yellowtails, and cusk, still very abundant, February
adds the large cod and haddock which the trawlers are picking up
on nearby Georges; This is also a good month to buy fresh halibut
from local waters. ' \ "
MARCH
~ :. . ...•. -;;:. ,,,',
Supplies of cod, haddock, cusk, halibut: and gray sole continuegood
and the catches of wolffish,which slow,downard'tnltlith~ tl~rh of (th~ "
year, begil:itop~e~ up. ,'T, hy -wolffishisone ofJ'~:~wE;,nglan4's under-exploited
fishes, a condition that will be corrected when housewives
discover its excellence. ,I,
APRIL
This is the best month to tryout recipes for fresh cod, for with the
largest landings of the year pouring into the markets, quality should
be at its peak and prices moderate. Halibut alsois atthe peak of its,
abundance, and haddock, gray sole, andwolffishcontinuaplentiful.
Rosefish landings begin to .go up aftera slow midwinter fishery and
now a real delicacy may be added to the menu as the scallop season '
"is ushered in. Sea robins, scup, and striped bass are being caught in
",the traps of southern New England,' and the first mackerel of the .year'
are being, taken in Middle A.tlantic waters, to come by truck or. Fail
to New England markets. '
. (
. I .
FOOD FROM THE SEA.
MAY·
III 'May almost any fish-is a good' louy, withmany species,'coming in So abundantly that their :freshness and good quality are virtually
"assured. New .species of flounders to trytnis month are the sweet-
. 'me~ted dab, the lemon sole, a la~ge' flounder caught only on Georges
"Bank, and the 'smaller winter ..'flounder or blackback taken closerin-'
'shore. Mackerel have now ar~ived in New England waters and prices
.: drop accordingly ; butterfish, squeteague, sea bass; and whiting return-
, to the southern New England coast and alewives to the rivers.: Mem-bers
·of the cod family-cod, haddock, and cusk-' continue abundant,
as dIo w.olffishand scallops. This is" the biggest month for rosef,ish,
- JU:JI\TE .
'. WIth' few'exceptions, M~y's sea:food"advice holds good' for _J~me..
'.The so-caned "market cod" ar~ now more abundant thanthe larger
sizesand the dab fishery is at its peak.' .. . '.
;~ -.;. .~.. \' ,~.AudusT '.'; . ~
JULY
, Adcl~d,t'o the list of.seafo~ds abundant in May and June are sword-fish"
~10~ being caught about Block Island, Two rnembersof the cod
family-c-the white and squirrel hakes-. appear more abundantly in the
.markets, usually in the fqrm of fillets. Jladdoc~ Iandings continue
\ Jarge .. 'I'hisis the.peak month for thewp.itingfish~Q~~'andin southern
. NewE~gland th~ largestcatches of ]ob~ters a're being made.' .
;, "...', - , __:'. ','. :' to, ". ,. ~.' ',,', ' . , •.•.•••
',:,. n '; ..
This is'the best month of the year fors~ordfishing, hence the best
month toenjoy the tender, richly flavored swordfish steaks, Mackerel
are ext~emely abundant and lobster .fishermen in Massachusetts are"
making their biggest catches. Haddock, hake, cusk, and whiting con-tinue.
good buys, as do yellowtails, dabs, and blackbacks. Rosefish,
whitlng,and'scallops'arealso abundant. ..."
SEPTEMBER
" '-~' ~
September is the biggest month of.the hake arid yellowtail fisheries, '
. Cod' catches' are relatively low; haddock 'landings are falling' off but '
.'still good, especially from South Channel.,R6sefish and. whiting are
.coming in, almost as fast as' they did at the peak of their seasons and /
whiting arestillabundant. In Maine this is the best month for lobsters. \
:(. ,.'
/ OCTOBER
'InOctober, try pollock, a handsome member of the cod family caught
throughout theyear butin special abundance duringOctober, Novem-
8 CONSERVATIQN BULLETIN 33
.,.. . .
bel', and, December. Pollock usually appears in the markets in "con-.
venient fillets, white and fine-flavored. Haddock and hake continue
in the markets in good quantity; among flounders, blackbacks and
dabs are good buys; rosefish and scallops..are abundant. Mackerel
begin to move south but large catches of these fish, fat after their
summer's feeding, are still being made. ,.
Pollock catches are still very large and yellowtail and dab are plenti-ful,
Most of the fisheries this month' are yielding only average or
[ower-than-average catches, :but an excellent variety is still available,
with only the "s'umm(H'fishes"like swordfish, whiting, andsqueteague
missing, from local "raters. " t
SOURCES OF SUPPLY
As we have seen, from six to seven hundred million pounds of fish
and shellfish are brought into the ports of New England each year.
Half of the catch comes in the holds of seagoing vessels into the great
fishing centers of Boston, Gloucester, and Portland;' the remailider
- comes in smaller vessels and boats into the many smaller coastal cities
and towns that offer anchorage for fishing boats and means of trans-porting
fish to market. Where do the fish come from->- the haddock
and cod by the hundred million pounds, the gleaming, iridescent mack-erel,
the giant swordfish that weigh several hundred pounds apiece, the
colorful rosefish, the flounders and pollock and herring and lobsters ~
,They come from an undersea terrain as varied and as clearly defined
as the continent that borders it, avast expanse of water incluclingthe
I whole coastline from rocky Maine to the quieter and more protected
shores of Rhode Island and Connecticut, stretching out Into the semi-enclosed
sea known as the Gulf of Maine, extending into the·oce'an 200
miles to New England's famous fishing banks, and on 500 to 800miles
to the waters off Nova Scotia and the Banks of Newfoundland. ,
East of Maine, New Hampshire, and MassachusettsIies the great
basin of water known as the Gulf of Maine-its northern, western, and
. southwestern rim formed by the curving shoreline from Cape Sable
to Provincetmvn.· To the south and east, the rim of the Gulf lies
··1,
.. 1 ·:~d
'I " .' ;1
, I
I'."'jf.; . . "'~-
," :
...
"
\ '
3 . '\.0,
60·
I'-;j
00
t:::l 45·
I'-;j
::tl
0~
1-3
~.
~;>
SQ-IOO 100 AND DEEPER
60·
10' CONSE.RV ATION ,BULLETIN 33
/;.1. •
from 12 to 600 feet under water and consists of a 250-mile ridge (a
sort of submarine 'mountain chain)' that forms a barrier between the
mile-deep waters of the open Atlantic and the shallower basin of the
Gulf. Scattered along this curving ridge are the offshore fishing
grounds of New Engl,and, known as Georges, Browns, and Seal Island, Banks.'····
From Georges Bank, with its area of 22,000 square miles, about
100 million pounds offish are taken each year.3The fishing grounds
included in the Georges area lie from 80 to 220 miles from Boston,
'which means that fish taken there usually arrive in port in first-class
condition .. Browns Bank, next to the eastward, is only a fraction of
the size of Georges. Haddock, rosefish, .cod, pollock, cusk, and floun-ders
are the principal species making up its 35-million-pound annual
yield. Seal Island, the shoal which completes the seaward rim of the
Gulf of Maine, is visited only by line trawlers and is a relatively unim-portantfishing
ground. ' ' .
More than a third of all New England's fish comefrom the under-·
water domain just described-s-thebesin of the Gulf of Maine plus
the offshore banks that form its seaward boundary. Another one-fourth
comes from a more distant chain of banks that Iieoff the south-eastern
coasts ofN ova Scotia and .Newfoundlandfrom 38 to 62hcmrs'
.trawler run from Boston-La Ha~e, Emerald, Sable Island, and
Banquereau; while southeast of Newfoundland lies thefamous Grand
Bank. Ina recent year, 141 United States vessels fished th'eNova
Scotian banks and, brought back 'lOa million pounds of' fish. The
catch by United States vessels on the Newfoundland banks and the'
Gulf of St. Lawrence banks is negligible.'
The fishing grounds of southern New England contrast markedly
with those described above, consisting for the most part of gently
sloping sea bottoms where shore fish;such as flounders, squeteague, and
sea bass are found. These grounds lie comparatively close inshore,
. and so most of the fishing is done by smaller boats. '
FISHERMEN AND FISHING BOATS
How the Fisheries Began. ..:
The fisheries of New;England were the first commercial enterprise
in our country. Years before permanent colonies were established the
taking of fish from offshore waters had been under w~y. We know
that in 1497 John Cabot reported the abundance of codfish at New-foundlandto
his patron; Henry VIT. . Vessels began to sail out9f
, ~In 1940, Georges Bank proper', yielded 73,000,000 pounds; Siouth Channel, separating
th'll Bunk from Nantucket Shoals, 75,000,000 pounds ; and Nantucket Shoals, 6,OOO,Oqp
~nn~ .
/
I··
FOODFRoOMTHE SEA ,:11
European ports to fish for cod on the Grand Bank, and by the middle. .
In most places, however, fishways were not provided, or
were allowed to fall into disrepair. '-"
, Probably the longest alewife migration on record is 'their ascent
of the east branch of the Penobscot River, where they once reached a
poiht200 miles from the sea. Ordinarily, however, they spawn much
nea~er to the ocean. . , J .
After depositing their eggs in masses which' cling to the submerged
roots and stones of the stream bed, the fish return to the sea in an
emaciated condition, for they have taken no food during.the spawning
migration. As S0011 as-they reach the brackish tidal estuaries on their
return journey they begin to feed.
'- Meanwhile. the young, resembling small, transparent eels more
than alewives, are beginning to appear in numbers in the rivers. They
grow rapidly and by 'the time.they are an inch long have assumed the
tYPical body :£ormof their race. During the sumrnerand fall, when
about finger length, most ofthe young drop downstream to the sea.
, ,The movements of young and adult alewives in the ocean are little
known. Like the sea herring, mackerel, and menhaden, they appar-
, ' ently keep together in large schools, fish of a -size'congregating to-gether..
Sometimes they are taken in .large numbers in seines and
pound nets 'along _the'coast, and during the winter. months a few have
been caught in otter trawls (whioh are fished along. the bottom) on
such offshore grounds as Georges Bank and South: Channel.
It is believed that the alewives, like the Pacific, salmons, return at
maturity to their nativestreams. Probably they live three years in
the ocean before returning for the first time to spawn. . ,
Building up thealewife fisheriesto much higher levels 'of.abnndance -
is considered entirelyfeasible. ~any established facts support this '
belief;' For example, small' runs have been maintained: in streams
blocked by dams merely by releasing a few barrels of alewives above
. the dams each year. Stockingof barren ponds has established runs .'
within the three to four years necessary for the fish to complete the
first prolongedperiod of residence in the ocean. The alewives of New'
England are not a doomedresource, but a neglected one. In great
numbers of ponds and streams, all thatis needed is stocking to restore I
'exterminated runs; in others, the removal of screens at the mouth of
ponds and the building of fishways .over dams will bring back the
alewives.
18 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
Sea Herring (Clupea harengus)
Probably no other fish i~' the 'Atl~ntic is so abtindant as the sea
herring, and probably no other is so continually 'and extensively preyed
upon by so large a variety of .natural enemies., Although fishermen
have taken .herring in their nets for untold centuries', it is probable
that the total supply in the sea is little diminished from the days when
whales and fishes and sea birds were the only predators. This does
not mean, however, that the ,supply in any particular part of the sea,
remains the same from year to year. Like most of the so-called pelagic
fishes that are taken as they school near the su:dace,the herring come
and go with markedand often disastrous fluctuations in the numbers
available locally to' fishermen.
"
, 12.637."
Figure 6.-The· sea herring.
The most important use made of the hEtJ':ringis the. canning ,'ri,s
sardines. From half "a million to 2 or 3 million standard Gases(each
containing approximately 20 poupds) are packed each year in Mai~l~,
sardine canneries. ' According to long-established practice, every year
the canneries import almost as many young herring from Canada. as
they receivefrom local waters. Even with this additional source of,.'
supply the pack of sardines varies greatly from year to year. Canned
\ sardines are by far the most valuable product of this fishery, bringing
3%, million dollars in 1940,when 1,117,748standard cases were packed.
, While the young herrings are canned as sardines, the larger sizes-the
"fat herring" approximately 3 years old and the large mature
herring in their fourth summer or older-are utilized chiefly for srnok-ing.
Most are either soft- or hard-smoked in the round and thus pre-pared
are known as bloaters. In New England, most 'of the smoked
) herring marketed in retail stores are sea herring; but from New York
southward, the product called by the same name usually is prepared
from the alewife or river herring. Lesser quantities-are salted. or:
spiced. Some of the smaller sizes-young just past the "sardine'!
size-are processed as smoked boneless herring. .Even the waste.prod-
':' FOOD FROM T:HE 81M': '" 't9
'uctsof the' herring-processing plants are used, .flsh meal for poultry
, -and fox food and oil foruse in paints being prepared from these scraps.
, In New England, only rosefish, haddock, cod, 'and flounders were
taken in larger quantities than the herring iri1940. In that year a'
44,OOO,000-pound.catch,worth $408,000to the fishermen, was landed.
The value of the various products manufactured from herring in New
England was 7:1;2 million dollarsin 1939,and 4 million dollars in 1940,
a comparatively poor herring year. , " r
The sea herring has so many natural enemies that man is, in a sense,
an incidental predator. Almost every large fish of the sea, and some
of themediurn-sized ones as well, feed at sonie time on herring or on
thein spawn, which is deposited 'on the sea bottom. : Fish like the
haddock, cunner, and cod find the eggs that Cluster on rocks and sea
weeds a convenient sourceof food.. Even winds and tides may be a
cause of destruction, as' when whole 'schoolso£ young herring are
washed ashore by storms to silver'the beaches, with their' scales.' In
European waters quantities of spawn are tossed up on the shore, and
this happens also in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but not, apparently, in
New England. . ...' ' ' , .
It is in the surface waters of the open 'sea,however, that the greatest
slaughter of the herring takes place. The whole fraternity of pis cine
sea hunters-the bluefish, pollock,' mackerel, salmon, cod, thresher
shark, mackerel shark, swordfish and tuna-s-feed in part on herring .
, to satisfy appetites born 'of the strenuous life of the open' sea. .Fin-hacks,
the commonest whales in the Gulf of Maine, devour enormous
numbers; packs of dogfishtear through ,the closely massed' schools;
. whiting drive the luckless herring before them in, so frenzied achase
that pursued and pursuers often rush heedlessly into 'shallow water
where death by stranding puts anend to the hunt.
From such a listing of enemies (an incomplete one, at that) it would
appear that the herring are born butto be eaten, but they themselves
stand in the relation 'of dangerous predators to the lesser creatures
that populate the waters of the open sea. Among the favorite foods
of herring are .small shrimps .of.surface-dwelling habit, which they ,
actively pursue through the water. If the preferred shrimps are not
to be had, they strain the smaller copepods from the water, their gill ,
rakers serving as sieves for, the purpose. Although fish are not im-port
ant in the diet of herring under ordinary conditions, they oc-casionally
take small launceor sand eels, silversides, or even yo~ng
of their own kind.
Well known though the herring is, at various stages of its life it is
called by other names that are less familiar. ,The so-called "sardines"
that, are, canned on the coast of Maine are in reality young h~rring,"
,which are caught in great numbers when they come inshore, during'
.. -'"
20 CONSE.RVATION BULLE'TIN 33
the spring'"and summer. These young fish, 3 to 4 inches long, appear in.
enormous numbers off the coast of New England in the spring, usually
arriving in MassachusettsBay about the middle of April, and along
the coast of Maine, the Bay of Fundy', and the west coast of Nova
Scotia progressively later. Schools of young herring, ranging in size
from 3 to 8 inches and including both one- and two-year-olds, usually
may be found eastof Penobscot Bay all summer. Tn July and August
the sardine herrings of Massachusetts Bay are joined by schools of
"sperling," the herring in their secondsurnrner that have grown toa
length of 5 to7 inches. ..
,~;.;,
",' ; .
.~ ."/"- 12.638
. Figure 7.-Herring eggs adhere to weeds, stones, or shells. The dark eyes of the developing
young are easily seen.
Although the one- and two-year-old herring, as well as the large
spawning adults.iare still numerous along the New Englandcoast line
during the early autumn, they move out into deep water soon after the
middle of October, probably to winter on the bottom .. , During their
third' summer tli.eyoung herring,' still immature, grow rapidly and'
accumulate large amountsoffat among the body "tissues-. In Europe,
large fisheries are based 'on these "fat" herring, but on our side of
the Atlantic the herring in this stage of development lie offshore
more than do the younger fish, and so are less accessible to the fisher-men.
A few are. taken by mackerel seiners, and stragglers .come in
along the Maine coast. . ., I
During the winter following this third summer the herring become
leaner and attain maturity .. During most of the year they live some
FOOD FROM THE SEA' 2.1··.. , ,
distance offshore, probably near the bottom, but come inshore £0 spawn
from: midsummer to early winter. -The chief spawning grounds of
the herring along the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts and in the,
Bay of Fundy lie at depths ranging from.Izdown to 180 feet: Her-ring
spawn not only close inshore but on the various banks andshoals
as: far out as 25 miles from shore.. ,When boats are engaged in cod
and haddock fishing on such banks the anchors often come up with
herring eggs attached. The herring deposits from 20,000 to 40,000
eggs, in contrast to about 400,000 produced by the mackerel and up-warcls
of 3,000,000 by the cod. .f ~._..' • • • _
Primarily a North Atlantic fish found from northern Labrador to,
Block/Island, the sea herring is taken occasionally as far south as Cape
Hatteras. It occurs also in great numbers in the eastern Atlantic.
Mackerel (Scomber scombrus) . . .
: Every spring the mackerel rise from the deeper waters off the At-lantic
coast, where they have spent the winter, and strike in toward
. the shore. Traveling in vast schools or associations of schools that
may be miles in length, the 'mackerel approach the coast in two great
divisions, one that arrives in the offing -of the Chesapeake and Dela-wareBays
in April, and a more northerly groupthatcomes inshore
in the-vicinity of southern New England in late.May. Both of these
groups work up the coast in a northeasterly direction.. ' ,
.: '':
...• ' . -..-.•,.i'. :.
.,1~.639
,Figure8 •....,..Themackerel.
. This annual visit of the mackerel brings them to the principal spawn-ing
grounds-an area that lies from 10 to30 or even 50 miles offshore,
and extends from the vicinity of the Chesapeake, Capes to the offing .
of Cape Cod.' The eggs are shed in. the surface waters of this area;
After, spawning, the mackerel spend the summer feeding on the rich
surface life which abounds in the waters over thecontinental 6h81£.
Wherever swarms of small crustaceans (especially the 'red copepod,
OalanU8 ) are most abundant, schools of mackerel are likely to be con-centrated,
The southern group of mackerel spends the summer in the
521544°--43----4
22 CONSERV ATIONBULLETIN 33
~ -
Oltl£ of-Maine, while the northern division summers in the GulLof • . . J . St. Lawrence. ' ,. ,;.' l.' ." '
The firstappearance 6£ mackerel in the spring is awaited by fisher-men
operating usually out ofWildwood and Cape May, N. J., and
often there is keen rivalry- tobe the first to.land mackerel and reap the
profits of early-seasonprices for this seafood delicacy. ,These vessels
work up the coast with the fish,' and fora period: of 2 to 3 weeks land
their catches chiefly at New York. As the mackerel approachNew
England waters, more boats from that area enter the fishery, and
landings are made' at more northerly ports-' especially at Boston, New
Bedford, and Gloucester.. During recent years mackerel fishinghas
been carried on through' so great a portion of the, year, that the fresh -,
fish are available; in varying quantities, from Aprilthrough December.
The heaviest Iandings cOlueinmidsummer.,
Mackerel in the fresh state is considered by many to be one of the
choicest of all food fishes. It is rich in fat and when properly pre-pared
is a flne-flavored fish.. Some cookery experts consider it too' fat,
to fry, and prefer tosplit and broil it. ' Large mackerel ,m~y bestuffed '
and baked. ;F-resh mackerel should reach the' fish ma.rk.ets already ~t
_dressed, for .theydo not 'keepso.well j'in the-round." They are 'often
sold as fresho:r;frozen:fillets-the l~tter, aY~dlablethroughoy.ttp,eY~,~r.
Some are salted either as fillets or .splitfish, arid some ,are, smoked.
Although the early mackerel fishery-was built on the salt product.Iittle
of, the catch is consumed 'in this .form in New Englund today.' The
usual size of mackerel seen in the markets is about 10 to 16 inches.
. Most mackerel fishing is done .from purse-seine vessels, but there
is also a small gill-net fishery. Seiners fish" during the dark .ofthe
moon; netters on moonlight nights. ,This is because seiners must s~e
the fish in orderto surround the WoY~ng.ScllOOls'With their nets; while
the gillnetters .cannot ' catcJi' fish if their nets are visible; Mackerel
feed 'near 'thesurface in the midst of innumerable small creatures that
give off a phosphoresc~nt1ight when disturb~d.The effect produced
by a large school of mackerel is a diffuse glow that can be seen by
, lookouts on the cruising .seiners for a long distance on a, dark night,
although it is practically invisible when there 'is a sheen of moonlight
on the water. 'Netters, however, set mile-long, perpendicular strings
of webbing in the water at duskand.fish them a~ daw:t;l.For,these .'
fishermen, darkness .has a different effect, .for die luminescent food-.
animals gather: on the strands, of the net and gleam as it sways in the
water. For this reason the mackerel seethe nets best on darknights
,and so escape "gilling" in the twine. At certain seasons and in certain,
localities mackerel are taken in pound nets and floating traps close
~~, ' -
FOOD FROM THE, SEA 23
I·
I
12.447
figure 9.-Mackerel from the open Atlanticarfi~e at a New England wharfside, completing
the first lap of their journey to America's dinner tables.
'.( ,". . '
The most interesting chapter .inthe-Iife storyof the maekerelis
the period spent in theteeming nursery of the sea, first as atransparent
egg about the size of a pinhead, later as a tadpole-like larva-that drifts
inthe currents so, helplessly that it is unable to keep right side upper-
"most; " During these stages the young mackerel is a member of the
, plankton, the namegiven to the driftingcotlimunjty of oddly assorted
. creatures and microscopio .plants in the upper layers of the sea. Dur-irig
a part of each year the plankton includes the eggs of many fishes
and of a great number of invertebrates, such as barnacles, starfish,
mollusks, and worms. Later, the eggs are replaced by the recently
24 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
I"
hatchedIarvae of all of these forms. In addition, there-are hordes
of the small crustaceans which form an important source-of food for
adult fishes. Enemies of the young fishes are everywhere to be found
in these surface waters. Among the more important of these foes
are the small glassworms that prowl through the drifting plankton,
or the destructive comb jellies which sweep the water practically clear
of fish eggs and larvae wherever they swarm in large numbers.
The mackerel egg is about one-twentieth of an inch in diameter and
is buoyed-up by an oil globule so that it floats near the surface. When
water temperatures-on the spawning grounds are normal, the larval
mackerel-about an eighth of an inch long-hatches in about a week.
About 4 weeks after hatching, the young mackerel develops fins like
those of the adult fish and, for the first time is able to swim .against
the currents. This so-called "post~larval"period lasts for 6 weeks,
making the total period of infancy some 11 weeks from the time of
spawning. "~ .
Recent, studies' by the former Bureau of Fishedes showed that the
mortality during this early period of themackerel's life rnay be ex-'
tremely high. IIl.Years whenconditions on the apawniriggrounds are
particularly llIrfiivor~bie; as happened in 1932, -asfewas four young
for every million eggs produced may survive theIarval pe?iod.·.·"The
un~8:voi-abl~direction of the prevailing winds and currents, which
carried the young mackerel away from-their usual nursery grounds,
combinedwitha scarcity of suitable food for the young were probable
causes of the disaster. (Sette, unpublished manuscript,') .
Studies of this sort· have thrown light on the hitherto puzzling
question of why the supply of adult mackerel fluctuates -greatly from
'year to year. Records show that the catch may fall as low as about
6,000,000 pounds or rise as high as 179,000,000 pounds. Thesefluctu-ations
are due to actual changes in the number of -fish in the sea;
and these changes, in turn, are due to the varying -survival of the
young in various' years. .A succession '0£ poor spawning years may
result in a scarcity of mackerel for a number of years. On the other'
hand, with proper conditions for the production and survival of young,
a brood of such enormous size may result thatthe fishery will be ata
high level of product ibn for several years.
Records of the Fish and Wildlife Service that trace the commercial
mackerel fishery back to its beginnings in 1804 show the extent of these
ups and downs in production; From 1804 to 1831 the catch gradually
increased to a level of about 70,000,000 pOUllds.During the next 9
years there was a gradual falling off to 23,000,000 pounds in 184().
Again the pendulum' swung, and for a long period the catch ranged
from 80,000,000 to 100,000,000 pounds a year. In 1884, the record year
for mackerel landings, the catch was 179,000,000 pounds. Compared
FOOD ,FROM THE SEA ' 25
'with';these early years, 1886 ushered in a period of low catches that ' "
persisted to 1926. Variations in the sizeofthe landings are still evi-dent,
'with the catch sometimes doubling from one year to the next, but
the general average for the-modern period of the fishery is near 40,-
.000,000pounds annually. ' '
Swordfish (Xiphias g/adius)
,From 30 to 70 vessels outfit each summer for the most picturesque
of the 'New EnglandBsheries-e-swordfishing. ,Cruising offshore wa-:
tel'S from' the offing of Block Island to the' Nova Scotian, banks,
swordfishermen capture their prey individually with harpoons-200
to 600 pounds of fighting fish armed with a weapon that is capable
of splintering the sides of a dory. The fleet lands about 3,000,000 "
, pounds a .year inN ew England ports, but so far does 'this amount .
fall short of satisfying the growing demand that in recent years
more than 4,000,000 pounds of frozen swordfish, have been imported, .>.
annually from Canada and Japan.
" Figure 1O.~The ~wordflsh., ' "
The,swotdfish ranks high, among the "quality fish'" of New Eng-.
land, Thick steaks entirely' free from small bones are cut from this
large fish,". They . are excellent-when-broiled; and planked-swordfish
.isa special delicacy. The flesh 'is somewhat like .that of halibut in
consistency, but ismore oily: and has a rich, indescribable flavor that'
is different from that of any other product of the sea.
The vitamin content of swordfish-liver oil is exceptionally high.
This oil has been found by chemists of the Fish and Wildlife Service)
to be "100 times more potent in Vitamin .A.than the U. S. P. reference
sample of cod-liver oil of 3,000 U. S.P.tinitsper gram, and 500 times .
more potent than the minimum U.S.P. requirement forcod-liver
oil." ~It·is interesting to compare this product and certain-foods that
we ordinarily regard ~s good sources of Vitamins A and D. - ~or
-26 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
,# -,.
example, the Vitamin A content of swordfish-liver oil is 25',000times
as high as that of butter or eggs.
The swordfish is so widely distributed that it is well known
throughout much of the world. On the western side of the Atlantic
it ranges as far as the Newfoundland Banks and Cape 'Breton (un-confirmed
reports of fishermen also place them, off Labrador); and
in the eastern Atlantic as far north ~s Norway.' Southward, their
range extends to the Gape of Good Hope. They are found also in
'the Mediterranean and Red Seas and' in the Indian and Pacific '.
Oceans. '
Swordfish appear off Block Island late in Mayor early in June,
and are seen at successively later dates on Nantucket Shoals, Georges' -
Bank, and on the Nova Scotian Banks, where they usually arrive in
July. They keep mostly to, the offshore banks, and are most numer-ous
in July and August. With the approach of cold weather they
vanish.' On rare occasions stragglers have been seen during the win-ter
months, as. when 13·were #lUnd .entangled in line trawls set for
tile fish in9~to125 fathoms of water off Long Island in midwinter.
Although no one knows, precisely where the spawning grounds of
the swordfish may be, it is certain that they lie at a considerable dis-tance
from our coast, for fish with ripe ovaries have never been taken
in American waters; The smallest specimen ever, caught in New
England weighed 7% pounds. In the Mediterranean, 'however, small
swordfish weighing half a pound.arecommonly taken, and about the
y~ar 1890 Liitken found fry in the North Atlantic that must have
been recently hatched (for they: were only about three-eighths of-an
inch long) in several 'localities scattered between the latitudes af'206
and 39° N. Therefore, .although the birthplace of the swordfish that
appear seasonally in American waters remains one of the mysteries
of the sea, it is assumed that it may lie somewhere in the, eastern
Atlantic, possibly in the Canaries Current off the western coast of
Africa.'
Along with the tunas and the sharks, swordfish rank' as the largest
known 'fish.of, the seas. It isgenerally supposed that the very large
specimens taken from time to 'time are of considerable age, although
little is known about the rate of growth or the greatest age attained,
The largest swordfish definitely recorded from the Gulf of Maine is
described by Bigelow and' Schroeder as having been caught in the'
Bummerof 1921and landed at the Boston Fish Pier. The fish weighed
915 pounds dressed; hence upward of 1,000pounds alive. The sword
alone was more than' 5 feet long. Another large swordfish was caught
in 1931, a l3-foot specimen weighing 644 pounds dressed. ,Theusual
weight of the fish taken commercially in the vicinity of Gape Breton
is stated by Nichols and LaMonte (1937) to average 265pounds dressed,
while Bigelow and Welsh .< 1924) say that the larger run of swordfish on
,\
FQOD FROM THE SEA 27
Georges Bank and in the Gulf of M~ine average 30~ pounds, although
Block Island fish run smaller.
The annual visit of swordfish to our shores is probably a feeding
migration, with abundant schools of herring, mackerel,' and other'
schooling fish serving as the bait that lures them to American waters.
These smaller :fish,in turn, are feeding upon the minute crustacea and
other planktonic animals which swarm abundantly in the surface
waters over the continental shelf during the spring and summer.
Closely schooling fish form an ideal food for the swordfish, which,
with its toothless mouth and weak jaws, is poorly equipped to capture
individual prey. Acporcling to common belief, it rises up in-the midst
of a; school, swinging sharply to right and left with its sword and
either wounding or stunning the smaller fish. The factthat fish with
broken backs have been found in swordfish stomachs seems to support
this belief, although, the exact method of underwater feeding is, of
course, hard to observe. '
Judging by the stomach contents of several specimens, the swordfish
may sometimes descend to considerable depths in search of 'food, rang-ing
down a thousand feet or more to capture small black fish (stomia-
," tids) with phosphorescent organs that live below the z011eof light pene-tration,
,
, The swordfish is a relatively accessible target for _the fisherman's
harpoon because of its habit of drifting lazily at the surface of the
water on calm, sunny days; with the dorsal fin and the upper lobe of
the tail fin protruding. Since virtually all of the specimens so taken
have their stojnachsfllled with .food (several bucketfuls of small fish
have been taken from a single stomach) it is thought they' may seek
warm surface waters after feeding to digest their meal. Apparently
fish so occupied are more or less oblivious to their surroundings, for
boats a!'e often able to approach within harpoon range without diffl-
_culty. '
Fresh swordfish ordinarily is, available only during the months 'of
June, July, August,' and September. Wholesale prices are highest -in
June, when the fish are just comingInto season, and lowest during,
the August peak of abundance'. Frozenswordfish is to be had through-out
the year.
Cod (Gadus callariasJ
, During every month of the year, while the seasons for other fish
come and go, vessels come into Boston, Portland, and other New Eng-land
ports with fares of codfish. , Cod from the Grand Banks of .New-foundland,
from Sable Island and La Have, from Browns Bank and
Quereau, from almost every bank and ledge of the inshore and off-shore
grounds from Cape Sable to Nantucket pass through the fishing
ports of New Englandto the tables of people all overthe United States.
28 . CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
12.753
Figurel1.-The cod.
\
The name "cod"is applied to an entire family of fishes, most of
which are important sources of food. The cod itself, the haddock, the
pollock, the white and squirrel hakes, the cusk and the whiting all have
heen caught and marketed in increasing quantities since the develop-ment
of fish filleting in the ea~IY 1920's. 'All the members of the family
are soft-finned fishes and maybe separated from herring, salmon; and
other fishes also having soft fins by the fact that the large ventral fins
lie under or in front of the pectorals, not behind them. The cod has
3 separate dorsal and two anal fins, a heavy body, large head, blunt
nose, and wide mouth. It may be distinguished from the haddock by
FOOD F'ROM THE SEA
/ '
th~pale lateral line, and from the pollock by the square, broom-shaped
tail; projecting upper ja')', and mottled color pattern. None of its other.
relatives are sufficiently'like it to prove confusing.
Most of the members of the cod family are popularly designatedas-
"groundfish." However, the cod itself is not always exclusively a _
groundfish, for, unlike the strictly bottom-living haddock and cusk, it
often roams freely' above the banks anclledges which are its home,
ascending even to the surface. These roving habits of the cod have
been discovered in' several ways. The most direct way is, of course,
by observations of fishermen and other people at sea, who have often
seemcodfish chasing squid, herring, or capelin in the upper waters,
sometimes coming-so'close to the surface as to permit their observers to
gaff them. It' is reported, also, that they sometimes strand on the
beaches of Labrador while pursuing capelin. The codthatsupport the , ~ ~- . famous Lofoten 'Island fishery off the northern coast of Norway often'
are taken some distance above the bottom, where they congregate pre-sumably.
in search Qf the most agreeablewater temperatures. Their
presence in these intermediate water layers has been demonstrated by
. European scientists by the use of an.eoho-sounding apparatus. On
this side,of the.Atlantic, a few hundred pounds are taken each year as
.incidental.catches of purse-seines, which are .fishedat the surface." /
:Eve:n~moretelling evidenceof the movements ofcodcomesfrom our
knowlsdgeof their diet.' The. stomachs of-theverysmaJI,est ~od that _
,a:r:e caught at the surface in tow nets, contain ,the· rninute.plants-end
animals that driftIn.the upper Iayersof the sea. 'Coda little larger
have eaten; in addition to the small crustaceans that areto be found-at
practically, al] depths, such typicalbottom forms as amphipodsand
small 'worms.. ,Examiningadult cods,-wefind that the bulk of. their: -
dietis made.up of animals that live only on the bottom, "
"Molfuskspredorninate over all other items in the cod's diet, and if
both large and small shellfish are available, the codappearsto choose
the b'rger va.rieties.> Sea.clams, cockles, and sea mussels 'are, eatenin
quantity. Theyareswallowed whole,the meats digested out, and the
empty' shells,stacked-in thestomaeh-like-a-nest of ash trays, probably
to be expelled later. Remains of various kinds of crabs, lobsters; and
prawns are often found in cod stomachs, showing that" they also cap-turethe
more active residents ofthe bottom. The spiny-skinned tribe,
including 'starfish, sea urchins, brittle stars, and sea cucumbers are '-.
eaten, as are the sand worm, Nereie, and the sac-like animals known
as sea squirts. Apparently no fish that lives on the bottom or hunts
.-close above it is immune to the attacks of the cod, which picks up
flounders and skates off the sea floor and hunts out cunners, blennies,
rock eels, sculpins, and sea ravens from the.tangles of sea weeds and
521544°--43----5
30 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
"" the shelter of overhanging rocks and .ledges. In finding its prey, the
cod probably uses its sense of smell more than sight, and so hunts with
equal success by night or day.
From such a diet list it is evident that the cod is the enemy of prac-tically
every smaller animal of the sea. Since even an average-size
cod weighs about 10 pounds and 50- to 60-pound cod are sometimes
taken (the record size is 21114 pounds) the number of animals that
must count it a foe is large indeed. On the other hand, the cod in
New England waters has comparatively few enemies.. Among fish,
only the dogfish and sharks can attack it .successfully, and of other
aquatic animals, only the seals, which are not abundant in this region,
are potentially important enemies; Very young cod are, of course,
.at the mercy of the usual predators of the plankton, and the slightly
larger sizes that frequent harbors and inshore locations are devoured
in numbers by such active fish as their relative, the pollock.
1.2.642
Figure 12.-Found in th,e bottom of the net, these inhabitant$,of·the seafloor are aIUist~d'
on the cod's bill of fare. c. r
The longest codmigration on record is that of an individual tagged
in Iceland that crossed the Atlantic and was recaptured in Newfound-land
2,000 miles from thepoint of. tagging. On this side of the At-lantic,
tagging has demonstrated a regular mass migration of the cod
that live in summer about Nantucket Shoals to the coasts of New York
and New Jersey and even farther south in winter. During this south-wardmigration
the cod spawn, and in the spring' they returntoNan-
't.·'
....•
FOOD FROM THE SEA 31
tucket Shoals.' Whether the larvae produced in these more southern
'waters manage 'to return to New England waters, is unknown, but fry
1% to 2% inches 1011ghave been taken on the bottom as far south as
the area: off southern Virginia .. Few, if any, cod from' within the
Gulf of Maine join the Nantucket cod on their southerly migration.
'l'he most important spawning grounds are on Georges Bank, the
.'Nova Scotian Banks, and the Newfoundland Banks. Many cod con-gregate
for spawning in Massachusetts Bay, but their eggs and the
resulting fry are all swept out of the bay by the water currents that
move steadily around it in a counter-clockwise direction. There is
-some evidence thatfry produced on these Massachusetts Bay grounds
_rna]' be carried away, some northward to Nova Scotia, some south
around the outer arm of Cape Codto the region of Nantucket. At any
rate, it is certain that cod spawned in Massachusetts Bay do' not grow
up there, and' that local stocks must IDe kept -q.pby immigration of
y(),ungfromotherspawning areas, ."',i,,,' ...• '
"Codaremar.4:eted in.threedistinct size ea:t~gc;>~.i.es-Thewell-known
;~,'scrod" isnet.a.distinct. species of fish, but"~Y,9lillg,c9,dweighing 1%
,.to 2Y2 pounds.' So-called.fmarket cod" weigh'fr'()m2.1hto 10pounds ;
."larg~" cod rnaY,be anyweight oyer 10pOlln,gS. In general, the spring
';;'fish weighing 11/2 to 2 pounds are average size. .
44 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
12,649
Figure 19.-The scup.
_Although commercially the scup is one of the most important shore
fishes of southern New England, it is a New England fish during only
part of the year. - In spring, the scup appear in the vicinity of the bays
of Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts, apparently coming in
from the southwest between Block Island and Marthas Vineyard.
They enter the shallow coastal waters late in April, heavy with spawn
and traveling slowly-according to some accounts drifting in and out
with the tides. After spawning they move offshore, to wander in
schools through the rich feeding grounds of the continental shelf.
They are typically bottom feeders, and find on the rocky floor of the
southern New-England coast a great variety of the small invertebrate
animals which they eat; Often during the summer they rise to the
surface, swimming there in schools as mackerel or herring do and prob-,
ably feeding on the small animals that drift abundantly in the upper
layers at that season. When the water begins to chill in the fall, many
of the scup leave the New England area, and by mid-October most of
them have migrated south to winter quarters off the mouth of the
Chesapeake Bay. ,
As recently as a decade ago, no one knew where the scup went when
they left New England waters every fall. About 1929,trawlers began
to fish during the winter on the deeper offshore bottoms off the mouth
of the Chesapeake Bay and southward toward Cape Hatteras. Among
their catches of sea bass, flounders, croakers, and weakfish they found
many scup. A few years later, Bureau of Fisheries biologists marked
FOOD FROM THE SEA 45
large numbers of scup with numbered tags. Recoveries of these tagged
fish proved that many of the scup wintering off Virginia had been in
southern New England in the spring.
Almost the entire New England catch is taken in the waters of Rhode
Island and southern Massachusetts. Although occasionally a few seup
wander into Massachusetts Bay (Eastport, Maine, is the northern
record for the species)', this happens so seldom that these strays are
regarded as curiosities when they happen to be caught.
In Rhode Island and Massachusetts the scup season extends from the
last of April to the end of June. The spawning season over, the fish
no longer enter the traps readily and soon move outside. the waters
where traps and pound nets operate. The floating traps used in this
spring scup fishery are much like pound nets, but are buoyed by large
floats and anchored in deep water instead of being attached to stakesor
posts driven into the, bottom. Floating traps can be used where deep
water, rocky bottoms, or strong tides would prevent the use of fixed
gear. When the scup season ends, these traps usually are dismantled
until the following spring. To counteract to some extent the disad- .
vantages of the short season, the fishermen hold their excess catches in
pounds anchored in protected coves and ship the' fish to market
throughout the summer.
Such inshore waters"as Narragansett Bay and Vineyard Sound are
the places where scup .deposit their eggs, of pil~!le~~{~i~eand buoyant.
When the water is as warm a,~7,~o,,,th~,egg passes quickly through the
period of development, producing a larval fish.in only 40 hours. When
first hatched; a youngscup is about a sixteenth of an inch long.
. Like mackerel, scup experience' many years when unfavorable con-ditions
of one kind or another kill almost all the young produced.
In other .years the reverse is true, and enormous numbers. of young
survive. A~ a result, scup of commercial size are very abundant in
some years and comparatively scarce in others .. However, such fluc-tuations
are much less extreme than those"that oc~u+in the mackerel
populations.";' "
Scup have the usual enemies of moderate-size fish. It has some-times
been maintained-but without good evidence-that their spiny
fins protect them from. bluefish, which attack most smaller surface
swimmers with great ferocity. 'While living on the bottom, scup are
.preyed upon by sharks, halibut, cod, and other ground fish.
An increasing number of small boats from such places as Woods
Hole, Mass., Montauk, N. Y., and Wildwood, N. J., carry sportsmen to
fishing grounds for scup, now well 'established on the list of, popular
salt-water game fish that includes sea bass; bluefish; and weakfish. The
catch by anglers has increased so greatly that it is believed to amount
to a large part of the total New England catch of this species.
46 . OOi]~qS,ERVATIONBULLEiTIN 33
..Rosefish (Sebastes marinus)
Although long familiar to fishermen, the rosefish (called also "red-fish")
was practically unknown to the fish-eating public until about
1935. Before that time, the small catches made incidentally as fisher-men
sought other species were thrown overboard. Early in the 1930's
this picture was completely changed. Catches of haddock were falling
off; and in 1934reached the lowest level of any year during the period
, from 1918 to 1938. Otter trawlers made trips to Georges Bank and
even beyond to Browns and the Nova Scotian banks, only to return with
too few haddock to pay the expense of operation. Skippers began
to bring in their catches of the smaller and brightly colored rosefish.
In 1934-the year of the poorest haddock catches-they marketed one
and a third million pounds of rosefish, whereas the year before they
had brought in less than 300,000pounds.
Figure,20.-'-The rosefish.
About this time the industry began to experiment with filleting
rosefish and found it adapted to this method of preparation, hence
..suitable for shipping to inland markets in the middle west and south.
The next year (1935) 17,000,000pounds of rosefish were landed at New
England ports, and in 1936the catch rose to nearly 67,000,000pounds,
which was almost more than the market could absorb. Nevertheless,
the catch has never fallen below 58,000,000pounds since that year, and
in 1940it reached a peak of 85,000,000pounds. (Recent figures indi-cate
that the 1941catch may have been as much as 139,350,000pounds.)
In the few years since 1933,therefore, rosefish has risen from a place
. FOOD. FROM THE SEA 47
of relative insignificance to rank with haddock and cod among the
leading species of the New England fisheries. .
The rosefish is an excellent food fish, with ,flesh that is firm and of a
rich and agreeable flavor. ; Probably only the fact that it had not been
introduced to a wide enough market prevented its fuller utilization in
earlier. years. It is a well known food fish in Europe, and has long
been used in the more northern parts of its range along the western
. Atlantic coast. It is found from Greenland and Davis Strait as far
south as New Jersey in deep water, also in the eastern North Atlantic
and the Arctic Sea. . .
In general appearance the rosefish suggests the basses or perches,
but it is not related to either .. 'I'he brilhantcolor 'makes it easy to
identify in life, for it is' a"vivid orange or red.rwith paler underparts
and large, black eyes contrasting ·shatply. The head, large in' pro-portion
to the' body, is armed with prominent spines. Average mar-ket-
size rosefishjrre about 11 inches; the average weight is three-fourths
of a pound. The maximum size reported from American
waters is about 2 feet and 12 to"14 pounds. In the eastern Atlantic
and in Arctic Seas this fish reaches a length of 3 feet or more.
Typically a bottom fish in the weste'en Atlantic, the rosefish is taken '
in otter trawls.' Comparativelyinsigniflcant quantities are taken on
lines, especially in South Channel. Beginning in the 1939 season the
deep .channel .known as the Gully, off easternN ova Scotia, became
important as a source of rosefish, furnishing more.than half the total
eatch of the large otter ,:trawlers,. which, "with their long cruising
radius, 'are the only vessels able to reach' these grounds. -
. Unlike any 'of-the other fishes described in these, pages, the rose-fish
brings forth its young alive; that is, the eggs develop al~d hatch
within the body of themother instead of free in the water. The birth -:
of the young takes place during themonths ofJune, July, and August ..
Just before and during this-period it is possible to detect the presence
of young in many of the fish brought to market, because. their black
eyes show through the body wall of.the mother. Just.,hatched rose-fish
(which are about 14 inch long) have been taken at 'many places
scattered over the northern part of the Gulf of Maine .
..When first hatched, the young retain part of the yolk .sac, and none
of the fins are ,formed. Sog11they develop many· recognizable char-
. acters of the species-> large, spiny heads, large eyes, and relatively
short tapering bodies. 'I'he characteristic fins are fairly well de-:
veloped by the time the -little fish are an inch long, and about this
stage the .red coloration appears. During the early "reeks of life the
larvae and fry live near the surface, and about the three-quarter
inch stage they descend to the bottom and take' up the normal life
. of adults ..'
48 OONISERVAT'ION BUL,LEiTIN 33
-"
The food of rosefish, as might be expected, consists of a great variety
of bottom forms, including crustaceans, the smaller mollusks, shrimps,
and small fish. Its enemies include most of the larger predaceous fish
that inhabit the same areas.
Flounders
In New England at least five different species of flatfish or flounders
are brought to market from nearby coastal waters as well as from off-shore
banks. These are commonly known as the dab (H ippo-glossoides
ptatessoideev, gmy sole (GZyptocephaZus cynoglos'sus) ,
yellowtail (Limanda fer-ruginea), winter flounder (Pseudopleuro-nectes
amerioanusy, and lemon sole (Pseudopleuronectes dignabilis),
although other names may be applied to them as well. Of the five,
the winter flounder or "blackback" is perhaps the best known, being
found in almost every bay, cove, and harbor along the entire coastline
of New' England. Several of. these five flounders were virtually un Co
known until large-scale otter trawling brought them to light, because
their small 'mouths prevented them from taking the large hooks com-monly
used in the older methods of fishing. At the same time the
development of the filleting trade has led to more widespread appreci-ation
of the excellent food qualities of the various flounders. The
gray sole or witch flounder formerly was caught only in limited quanti-ties,
but during the past 5 years the expansion of the fishery and the
discovery of new grounds has brought more of them into the markets.
This species now has the largest total value of any of the flounders
landed at the three large ports of Boston, Gloucester, and Portland
(six million pounds worth $255,000 in 1940).
12.651
figure 21.-~.:thewinter flounder.
FOOD FROM THE SEA 49
These five flounders differ slightly in food quality. The gray sole
is considered one of the best of all flatfishes in flavor, and the bases
of the fins have large amounts of gelatinous fat of the sort for which
the European turbot is noted. Of the smaller flatfishes, the winter
flollllder is regarded' by many as the best flavored, the thickest, and the
meatiest. This is the predominant species taken in southern New
England and .the Long Island Sound region. The lemon sole, taken
! only on Georges Bank, is very similar to the winter flounder. The
yellowtail is a thinner-bodied fish than the winter flounder, and in this
respect is a less desirable food fish, but it has a good flavor and is now
marketed in large quantities. The dab is another flatfish that has only,
recently; come into its rightful place, for ill .1924 Bigelow reported
"so little market for it that few are brought in," although he described
it as an excellent pan fish. Now, however, about 2lh million pounds
a year are landed at Boston, Portsmouth, and Gloucester. The dab
has a thick layer of flesh; free from bones, on both upper and lower
sides. The meat is sweet and not oily, with a distinctive flavor and'
texture. "
Although the item "fillet of sole" appears often on the menu cards of
restaurants, none of the flounders taken commercially in American
waters is related to the renowned English sole (Solea. vulgaris). -The
only representative of the family Soleidae in New England is the
small hog choker (Achirus fasciatus). Althoughthe flesh is said to
be delicious, its small size (6 to 1 inches long) bars it from commercial
\ ' markets. "
The flounders are a particularly interesting group of fishes because.
of their habitof lying on' their sides. Usually associated with this
mode-of life are the loss of all pigment on one side of the body (either
right or left according to the habit of the species) and the migration
of one of the. eyes across the forehead, so that both eyes are on the
same side of the head ,(the upper side as the fish lies). Most surpris-ingof
all is the fact that young flounders begin life swimming upright
, like any other fish. At the age of 5 to 1 weeks (in the winter flounder)
the.left eye begins to move upward until it may be seen above the dorsal
profile of the head. From this point the transformation proceeds
swiftly, with the left eye moving across the forehead to lie beside the
right eye. The pigment on the now eyelessside fades, while the eyed or
uppermost sidebecomesuniformly pigmented. The little fish has by
this time abandoned its former swimming habits and swims and lies
on its side. The transformation is completed by the time it is not much
more than three-eighths of all inch long. With the transformation of
structure goes a change of feeding habits, for the little flounder, in-stead
of swimming actively in the open water and feeding on minute
50 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
12,652
Figure 22.-Lemon soles resemble large winter flounders but, are caught only on
Georges Bank.
FOOD F-R,OM THE SEA -51
plankton organisms, now lies on the bottom much of the time, like
the older fish. ..
Besides the longer migrations undertaken for the sake of finding
suitable temperatures, or at spawning time, someflounders probably
. wander in groups from place to placeas food becomes scarce. A,roying
habit is, however,' more characteristic of the flounders' large relative,
the halibut, and of tile summer flounder or fluke than of any of the
5 species discussed here. Both the halibut.and the fluke are exceedingly
active as flatfishes go, pursuing small fisheslike capelin and launce to
the surface, or roaming over the bottom in bands as they hunt fish,
crustaceans, mollusks, and other food. A typical flounder habit, dis-played
by both winter and summer flounders, is to bury in the mud im-mediately
upon settling to the bottom, leaving only the 'eyes uncovered,
On sighting a shrimp or other prey the ~ounder may dartupwith '~'
surprising speed to seize its: victim. On, the flood"tides, wheri the
water is bringing new, food. into the shoals from farther at sea; these
..flounders .are moreactive, .and roam about through theeelgrass in
search of food. The occa-sionalcapture of dabs and yellowtails in gill
nets shows that these species also may roam actively at times.
A female flounder of average size produces about 500,000 eggs an-
,nually, a large fish well over a million. Spawning occurs during the
winter months,. at which time the fish congregate in shallow inshore
waters. The eggs hatch in 15 to 18 days. ;
While flounders grow 1110rerapidly 'in some.areasthan in others, in
general the youngwinter flounder reaches a length of about 4% inches '
atthe endof the first year: Fish 71hin6hes long are 2 years old; 9%
inches, 3 years old; lllh,inches, 4 years old; 13inches, 5 years old; and
13%, inches, 6 years old.
Because it lives in coastal waters, sportsmen find the winter flounder
·the most accessibleofthe New England flatfish. In some localities
'anglers take as "many winter flounders as commercial, fishermen: .do,
and during the entire summer season virtually every southern .New
Eiiglandport, largeorsmall, sends outfrpml its docks numerous small
boats carrying anglers .to fish for winter flounders. In spite of its
.small mouth this 'flounder takes" the hook readily. Clams" are ap-
"puretitlyone of the best.baits.' ' ..-
"".During the. winter, from October to April, the winter flounder is
intensively fished by small trawlers or flounder draggersthat 9perate
".o.utof·th-e" bays, .coves, and inlets.ofsouthern NewEngland, At this
~inieo:fthe year 'the fish are somewhat more concentrated in bays and
'in..,letsas a-result ofa seasonalmovingin from more offshoregrounds .
· 'tospawn. Some 12;000,000 pounds of winter flounders' are caught' by ,
'commercial fishermen each year, with more than 10,000,000 pounds of
. this total coming' from the States of Masgachusettsand Connecticut.
52 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
Figure 23._The halibut.
Halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossusl
The largest landings of halibut arrive in New England ports during
the months from March to September, although catches are made find
landed every month of the year. Because of the good keeping qual-ities
of halibut and the excellence of the frozen product, the steaks of.
this large fish, white and flaky and of delicious flavor, may be enjoyed
fit any time of year. Much ofthe halibut consumed in New England
, comes from the Pacific coast, but North Atlantic waters still yield an
aunual catch of one to two million pounds of this excellent food fish.
Close inshore, the halibut was virtually fished out more than half a
century ago and now all the coastal grounds combined furnish barely
a quarter of a million pounds. The outlying banks; being less accessi-ble,
have held up better. Browns, St.Pierre, Banquereau, and the dis-tant
Grand Bank of Newfoundland each yield approximately a quar-ter
of a million pounds of halibut. Because they are very large fish
and also because they often frequent the deeper gullies; halibut are for
the most part caught individually on line trawls (only a quarter of the
catch is taken by otter trawls). .
The halibut is the largest of the flatfish-in appearance an enor-mously
overgrown flounder. It sometimes weighs as much as 500 or
600pounds, but usually a large halibut now means one weighing about,
200pounds, while average sizes are probably 50to 100 pounds. Halibut
are such slow grow~rs that they do not reach sexual maturity for 9 or
10 years. As fishes go, they are exceedingly long lived'. The 7-foot
fish that are occasionally caught may,it .is believed; be as much as 50
years old.
The halibut's slow growth and relatively high age at maturity makes
it possible for a stock to be depleted very rapidly where a fishery is
FOOD FROM, 'IHE SEA 53
intensive enough to remove a large proportion of the fish before they
have spawned. Regulation of the Pacific coast halibut fishery by an
international commission has proved very successful, however. Biol-ogists
believe that controlled development of the more distant east
coast halibut grounds-such as Davis Strait and the Grand Bank- .
might result in increased Atlantic coast catches, perhaps as much as a
12-million-pound total.
12,656
Figure 24.-The .wolfflsh will 'furnish many thousand pounds of excellent food when the
, American public becomes better acquainted rith it~ '
54 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 33
12.657
Wolffish (Anarhichas lupus>
,The wolffishis all excellent table fish that deserves to be hetter known,
It is somewhat similar to the hadd6ck (to which, however, it is no
relation) in the texture and flavor of its meat, and is often marketed
in the filleted form.- Biologists believe that the, present catches of
approximately three/million pounds could be doubled withoutdanger
to the future 'productiveness of the fishery. '
The wolflish is solitary, never schooling up in great droves as most
of the cods do, which may account, in part, for the fact that it has
never been marketed in quantities great enough to allow the public to
become well acquainted with its good qualities. Belying its fierce and
aggressive appearance (dory fishermen have to kill it immediately it
is taken aboard to prevent being bitten) it is thought to be a weak swim-mer
that spends most of its time hunting among seaweeds and over
rocky ground for the shellfish, crustacea, and starfish-like animals
which it eats. The wolflish has never been known to turn cannibal and
eat its own kind, in spite of legends to the contrary.
Although wolflish probably are not abundant in anyone place, they
are widely distributed from Davis' Strait on the north to Gape Cod
(and rarely to southern New England) on the south, and from near
the tidelines outward to depths of 500 feet or more. '
-Figure25.-The butterflsh.
Butterfish (Poronotus triacanthus)
The butterfish is one cf the best of table fishes. Fat and delicately
flavored, it is an ideal-pan-fish that fries to a crisp golden brown and
melts in the mouth. Most butterfish are only 6 to 8 inches 'long; the
largest run to about 10 inches. Schools of butterfish appear in the
shallow coastal waters of New England in summer, arriving in the .:/
, I
FOOD FROJ,\!CTHE SEA 55
vicinity of Rhode Island in late April, but seldom are plentiful north
of Cape Cod before Jlily. Although typically inshore fish, the butter-fish
nevertheless are not wholly confined to coastal waters but are
taken in some abundance 011' Georges Bank. In winter no butterfish are
to be found in New England waters, but where the fish go when they
disappear in October 01' November'is unknown.
Present catches of butterfish amount to about two million pounds-'
a considerable nu,~ber of individual fish, in view of their small size."
Figure 26.~The blue6~ .rune •.
TUlla (Thunnys ,thynnus)
The'bluefin tuna has only recently been considered a commercial fish
on the east coast. Present catches nowapproach a million poundsa
year (1940 catchwas'1,121,OOO pounds) and probably could be, in-creased
to four or five million pounds; , Lack of facilities for large-scale
canning in New England and competition with the Pacific coast prod-uct
have not encouraged fishermento develop 'an important tuna fishery,
but. recent' activitiesi'n the canning of tuna at Gloucester and other
placesmaychange the situation. '
Th'}fleshof the tuna is rich and oily, better adapted for canning
thanfor.consumption in the fresh form. East coast tuna are light-meated,
as are most.of the Pacific coast tunas (only the albacore has
true "white" meat) ." ',' ,
The bluefin tuna is found on the eastern coast of North America as
far north as Newfoundland, also on the Pacific coast and in the Medi-terranean.
Being an inhabitant of comparatively warm water; it "
visits our shores only during the summer and disappears.in autumn.
Noone knows where the tuna spends the winter months, or where it , '. spawns. ," , ,
The tunas are among the strongest and most active fishes, roving the
open sea in packs like. the predatory animals which, in fact, they are.
They feed on a great variety of smaller schooling fishes. Fishermen
(who call them "horse mackerel") often locate feeding tuna by the
56 OOiKlS.ERVATlQiN BULLEITIN 33
~, . .
flocks of sea birds that gather where the small fishare being driven to
the surface .
.On the .Atlantic coast bluefin tuna are said to grow to a maximum
size of 14 feet and a weight of 1,600 pounds. These large fish (as well
as the smaller "school tuna") provide sport for numerous big game
anglers fromMaryland to Nova Scotia. Most fish now caught com-mercially
fall into two size categories: school tuna weighing from 8
to 65 pounds, and large tuna ranging from 65 to about 600 pounds.
Summer Flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) .
In addition to the five flounders caught in abundance in New England
waters (see pages 48 to 51), the summer flounder or fluke is locally im-portant.
A commercial catch of a little over a million pounds in 1940
was made chiefly in southern New England, for this fish occurs only
in. small numbers north of Cape Cod, and the center of its abundance
is south of New England. Massachusetts boats fishing off Virginia
took another 2% million pounds, credited to New England in the
statistical records,
The fluke is considered one of the best of table fishes-white-meated
'and of excellent flavor. Average size flukes run from a pound to 5
pounds; the largest on record measured 3 feet and weighed 25 pounds.
Because of their seasonal migrations, flukes are taken in greatest
abundance in the summer months .. Then they are found in shallow
inshore waters, lurking about docks and over sandy or grassy bottoms.
In the winter they move out into deeper water. Flukes range at least
as far offshore as Georges Bank.
i
II
figure 27.-The summer flounder.
. I
FOOD: FROM I THE SEA 57
Its' size. and active, habits' make the fluke .an excellent game fish.
Unlike most of its sluggish relatives, the fluke pursues its prey (small
fishes, shrimps, crabs, and the like) swiftly, driving shoals of small
fry to the surface and sometimes leaping clear of the water.
" .,
. Anglerfis.h (Lophiu,s piscatorius)
.Among the virtually, untouched seafood' resources of New England
is the anglerfish. In-reality an excellent food fish, white-meated, free
of small bones, and with a pleasant flavor, until recently the angler
was considered unmarketable by the trawler crews and was pitched
overboard when it came up in the net. In 1940, h